CP Goerz - thank you very much for your precious practical advice - I will keep that in my mind and try to plan - to anticipate the dilemma of Friday night - stay in the darkroom till' early hours or go to bed and leave the house before light to get some images...
Vaughn, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Much appreciated. And thank you even more for sharing your workflow. I am going to re-read it and try to get some inspiration for my own.
Best of luck to you and your boys!
Andrej
Hey A,
I've found that not all pigments react the same way, even watercolor tubed stuff. The issue is the type of preservative used interferes with the gelatins melt, I avoid Windsor and Newton and anything that has thymol in it for this reason.
If you want to save some cash its best to use dry pigments like lampblack/carbon black/burnt sienna etc and then a little kicker of purple/red/green or blue from watercolors works really well. A pound of pigment from Daniel Smith is about $10 and I have to say I'm still using the same pigment I bought ten years ago.
Its a bit messier to make up the gelatin mix but if you are making 1 liter of solution start with the standard 10% gelatin mix then in a pestle and mortar add two tablespoons of lamp/carbon black, a tablespoon of sugar(helps break up the pigment clumps) and start with a couple tablespoons of water. Slowly at first mix the ingredients together, try to get a consistency of cream then start swirling away. I usually ground my pigments for about 15 mins, it takes time but its a brainless task so you can watch TV while doing it. ;-)
Once mixed together add a bit of the warm gelatin and mix it in then add more gelatin. Eventually you add the carbon mix to the main gelatin and give a good stir, be sure to get as much of the concentrated carbon solution oin the pestle and mortar into the mix.
Pour your sheets through a wet stocking to catch any lumps that may have made it through and there yah go...you save $$$ each time you pour a sheet.
Good Luck!
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