Hahnemuhle for Cyanotypes

[Pete Oakley]

I've been to The Photography Show at the N.E.C. near Birmingham today. I bought a few sample packs of Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag to try initially with Cyanotypes. Has anybody here tried this paper for Cyanotypes and how did it go?
Pete.

[JPJackson]

I have had success with the "new" cyanotype and HPR, nice paper.

[koraks]

It's indeed quite relevant to know if we're talking about regular cyanotype or New Cyanotype.
Regular: just about anything works (with only a few exceptions) and you can basically go wild with any surface or feel that you like.
New Cyanotype: count yourself lucky if you can find a dozen papers that technically work well. Be prepared to try everything you can get your hands on and in some time, you'll be able to judge by feel what your chances of success are with any new paper.

[Pete Oakley]

Thanks for your reply's. Koraks I've made a few variations to the traditional formula so I guess that it's a case of try it and see what happens.
Pete.

[koraks]

I'm interested to hear your modifications, could you share them please? It's always inspiring to see how others find their personal workflow. Nothing is carved in stone with these processes.

[Pete Oakley]

This works for me on Fabriano Artistio paper. I get the colour blue that I want but I'm always happy to try a different paper.

Pre coat the paper with a 10% Oxalic acid solution.

Formula
Stock solution A
Dissolve 25 grammes of Ammonium Iron (III) Citrate in 70 cc of de-ionised water at room temperature.
Make this up to 100cc.
this can go mouldy quickly so I add a few crystals of Thymol (I got mine from a bee keeping supplier). The Thymol will float on the surface of the liquid but avoid the grains when extracting some for use.

Stock solution B
Dissolve 10g of Potassium Ferricynade in 80 cc of De-ionised water at room temperature.
Make up to 100cc.

Use equal amounts of A & B and add 3 drops of 10% Potassium Dichromate to every 40 ml of solution before use. Also add 1 to 2 drops of a 20% Tween solution to each 10 cc of sensitizer to improve the absorption into the paper.

Good luck,
Pete.

[koraks]

That should work for quite a few papers and negatives. I personally never found the need to precaot with acid or to add dichromate with the classic formula. However, I can imagine it optimizes things under certain circumstances e.g. when the highlights fail to clear with certain papers.

[Pete Oakley]

I missed out a couple of things. Before I coat the paper I warm the solution (under safelight conditions) to 20 c and I coat under a yellow safelight.
I coat twice. The paper should appear wet & shiny but not runny wet.
If the negative is a bit weaker than normal add a few more drops of the 10% Dichromate solution.
Pete.

[koraks]

What's the purpose of warm and double coating? In my experience, dmax is quite dense with a suitable paper without these measures.

[Pete Oakley]

koraks I read somewhere that it was advisable so I do it. I've read so much and so many peoples opinions that I decided that it was the way to go for me. Though I have tried single coating and after experimenting I've opted to double coat.
Pete.

[koraks]

Maybe I'll try the double coating route again and see if that works for me too, although it's hard to see how it would make an improvement over my current workflow. Nevertheless, it's always good to know what more options are out there.

[JPJackson]

Dr. Ware wrote that double coating did not seem to improve the "new" cyanotype. Use enough sensitizer for a good first coat - about six passes with a coating rod.

[Pete Oakley]

JP this is not the "new" Cyanotype process. I do know that Gandolfi doesn't double coat either but this method works for me and gives me the colour that I like.
Pete.

[ChrisSeiberling]

I just tested Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag with 'new' cyanotype and, compared with Arches Aquarelle, found that (1) contrast was really poor and (2) exposure times were almost double. But HPR is easy to sensitize uniformly, so I don't want to give up yet. Any ideas?

[Andrew O'Neill]

Yes, the exposure time is quite long, but I'm getting excellent contrast.

[ChrisSeiberling]

OK, Andrew, thanks for your response... you're doing something right (and I'm doing something wrong). First... we're both using Hahnemüle Platinum Rag, right? An exposure that produces DMAX has completely degraded (fogged) highlights. I'm using Mike Ware's 'new' cyanotype formula with 2% citric acid, exposed with UVA fluorescents, relative humidity of 36%. Any suggestions? For comparison, Arches Aquarelle under same conditions does not suffer the degraded highlights.

[Astralark]

I tried new Cyanotype with HPR, it gives excellent result. I don't think I need to improve it because I am really satisfied with the result. 185391

[JPJackson]

OK, Andrew, thanks for your response... you're doing something right (and I'm doing something wrong). First... we're both using Hahnemüle Platinum Rag, right? An exposure that produces DMAX has completely degraded (fogged) highlights. I'm using Mike Ware's 'new' cyanotype formula with 2% citric acid, exposed with UVA fluorescents, relative humidity of 36%. Any suggestions? For comparison, Arches Aquarelle under same conditions does not suffer the degraded highlights.

You might try to humidify the paper prior to coating. 36% RH is pretty dry.