Easy alternative processes?

[jeffsweet]

I'm looking for recommendations for good "beginner" alternative processes, toning, etc. I've been making contact prints and want to expand from there, but I have a rather limited darkroom (a cramped bathroom with aluminum foil taped over the one tiny window) with no ventilation, so I'm rather wary of touching anything with particularly hazardous substances. Is there anything that would fit the bill?

Soon, I hope to have a place where I can put together a proper darkroom, but I've got to work with what I have for the moment....

Thanks!

[Alan9940]

The only alternative process that I have experience with is pt/pd printing so, as such, no idea how "easy" this process is vs others, but IMO it would be a good place to start. The metals are the most hazardous part, but you don't touch those. As long as you keep UV light away from your work area, you can work under normal roomlight conditions. I would suggest doing some research and watch some YouTube videos to see if this process is of any interest to you.

[pau3]

Good old cyanotypes are a good place to start with. Mild chemicals that can be
even bought prepackeged, if you want to avoid the hassle of mixing them
from scratch (which is otherwise straightforward).
Just choose the right paper. Expose them in the sunlight. Develope them
in plain water. If you don't like their blue color, tone them with tea (or, God forbids, with wine).

https://live.staticflickr.com/7027/6816198057_9b56a4bc39_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/bojNda)[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/27566883@N06/]Pau Martín (https://flic.kr/p/bojNda), on Flickr

[Vaughn]

Yep -- cyanotypes are a fun easy way to start -- and one can get into toning them.

[John Layton]

Yup...cyanotype is easy and fun! Nice to tone also (1st image straight, second toned with tannin):

201831 201832

[jeffsweet]

Ooohh... cyanotypes seem to fit the bill! I'll give those a shot for a bit before I venture further down the road. Thanks all!

[koraks]

Cyanotypes or Van Dyke Brown. The latter comes in nicely when you're done with blue and disappointed with trying to tone it to something else.

[Jim Noel]

Both cyanotypes and VDB are easy,as are most alternative processes. But for a beginning go with CYanotype. It is cheap, simple and requires no darkroom in addition to other advantages. ALthough Imake images using several alt processes, I frequently return to cyan because of their beauty.

[kleini]

The only alternative process that I have experience with is pt/pd printing so, as such, no idea how "easy" this process is vs others, but IMO it would be a good place to start. The metals are the most hazardous part, but you don't touch those. As long as you keep UV light away from your work area, you can work under lliteblue (https://liteblue.guru/) normal roomlight conditions. I would suggest doing some research and watch some YouTube videos to see if this process is of any interest to you.
Pretty awesome. Love this.

[Willie]

Bostick and Sullivan Ziatype kit makes for a good introduction to a printing out process.

https://www.bostick-sullivan.com/articles/ziatype.html

Information from the link.

The Advantages of the Ziatype:
A printing out system. Images can be evaluated as they print. In most cases the first print will be successful. Far fewer underexposed or overexposed prints.
Greater contrast control without graining. Normal silver negatives made for printing on No. 2 grade paper can be printed.
Greater paper acceptance. It tends not to be finicky and prints well on most papers.
Greater color control. You can "dial in" various shades of brown and red brown, purple and grays.
Greater printing speed. As much as 3 stops in some cases.
No developer needed.
Cold neutral black color with pure palladium. The elegance of a Frederick Evans print with palladium.
Good Dmax without the use of costly platinum.

[Tin Can]

Waiting for Van Dyke Brown chem from Bostick and Sullivan, with ancillary

I hope to have my DIY UVA box ready that day

Not been a fan of computer screen cyanotypes, perhaps better in hand or on wall

Time may tell, time may be short

[Jim Noel]

I make prints using the Ziatype process often. It is not an easy process for the new alternative printer. Judging the print is not as easy as it sounds until one gets used to doing so. ALso, it is not cheap.

[sanking]

I make prints using the Ziatype process often. It is not an easy process for the new alternative printer. Judging the print is not as easy as it sounds until one gets used to doing so. ALso, it is not cheap.

Interesting that one of the marketing features of the ziatype is the use of the lest expensive palladium metal in place of platinum.That was true back then when ziatype was first marketed, but not today as cost of palladium today is much more than platinum.

Some of the silver nitrate based processes such as salted paper, vandyke and kallitype are relatively inexpensive, at least in terms of the metal, but for permanence prints made with these processes must be toned.

Try carbon printing. Definitely not easy, but materials are very inexpensive.

Sandy

[tgtaylor]

I have found Bergger Cot 160 superior for cyanotype compared to other papers that I use for alt work.

Thomas

[Vaughn]

Palladium is still cheaper than platinum. B&S sells Pt at ~$10 per ml and Pd at $7.5/ml (for 100ml), but it is not cheap! I use a 2:1 mix of Pd:Pt...originally to save a little $$ on the cost of Pt, but after working with it, I enjoy the tonality, color, and contrast of the mix (no contrast agent used).

Working directly with in-camera negatives, 4x5 or 5x7 Pt/Pd prints are not very expensive...but that is all relative. I am comparing them to printing 16x20 silver gelatin prints. I use to zip through a package of 10 sheets of 16x20 FB paper to get a good print or two of the same image. Today, that would be $40 or more bucks. One can make several 5x7 Pt/Pd prints for $40. For an 8x10 print, I use about 20 drops of metal...figuring about 15 drops to a milliliter, that would be about $15 for the metal and good paper (COT320).

[sanking]

Palladium is still cheaper than platinum. B&S sells Pt at ~$10 per ml and Pd at $7.5/ml (for 100ml), but it is not cheap! I use a 2:1 mix of Pd:Pt...originally to save a little $$ on the cost of Pt, but after working with it, I enjoy the tonality, color, and contrast of the mix (no contrast agent used).

Working directly with in-camera negatives, 4x5 or 5x7 Pt/Pd prints are not very expensive...but that is all relative. I am comparing them to printing 16x20 silver gelatin prints. I use to zip through a package of 10 sheets of 16x20 FB paper to get a good print or two of the same image. Today, that would be $40 or more bucks. One can make several 5x7 Pt/Pd prints for $40. For an 8x10 print, I use about 20 drops of metal...figuring about 15 drops to a milliliter, that would be about $15 for the metal and good paper (COT320).


Yes, in terms of the B&S price for the palladium and platinum solutions, palladium is less expensive. However, eventually prices for the solutions will probably reflect market value of the metals themselves, and the spot price per ounce of palladium is now three times greater than that of platinum. Below is spot price on the New York market today.

GOLD 03/27/2020 $1625.00
SILVER 03/27/2020 $14.39
PLATINUM 03/27/2020 $741.00
PALLADIUM 03/27/2020 $2165.00

As you can see, Palladium is by far the most valuable of the four major precious metals. The price of palladium has more than doubled in recent years as there is with an acute shortage, the main reason being that palladium is used in pollution-control devices for cars and trucks.

Last year there was a theft from a chemical warehouse in South Carolina of several barrels of palladium. https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/state/south-carolina/article233382487.html
The loss was said (by the Office of the Sherrif of Georgetown County) to be worth $300,000. It was probably at least ten times that.

Sandy

[Vaughn]

Aye, but the atomic weight of platinum is almost double that of palladium...more palladium atoms for the buck!

[Darren Kruger]

There are several companies who sell precoated cynotype paper. do a search for "sun print" on on amazon to get a list. there is one from UC Berkeley for ~$8 that includes 15 20x30cm sheets. i doubt they are up to the quality that you could get by making your own but it will give you a chance to play around and they are really cheap.

Best to wash them outside to "process" them as there is a slight amount of cynaide gas that can form.

-Darren

[Vaughn]

...Best to wash them outside to "process" them as there is a slight amount of cynaide gas that can form.-Darren

Interesting -- first time I have heard this and cyanide gas doesn't show up in the chemical reactions I have seen. I would need more info before worrying about this at all. It would take a strong acid and heat to break down the Potassium ferricyanide and form HCN.

[Darren Kruger]

I was told there was a little bit that comes off when removing it from the contact glass and "don't put your nose by the print" when you check or remove the print. We were printing in the sun so there would have been some heat. More than likely fine outside but I just wanted to mention it as the original poster said that his darkroom didn't have any ventilation. I would rather be over cautious than under cautious.

It has been manyyears since this conversation so I might be not remembering it correctly and this applied to another alternative process.

-Darren

[Darren Kruger]

I just checked in the book "OverExposure: Health Hazards in Photography" by Susan Shaw, 1983, and here is what is listed for potassium ferricyanide (Farmer's reducer):


Potassium ferricyanide is only slightly toxic by skin contact, inhalation or ingestion. Exposing potassium ferricyanide to intense heat, hot acid or strong ultraviolet light can cause decomposition and release of highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas.

Potassium ferrocyanide (carbro printing process, reducer) also has the same description.

The book also has sections on various processes including cyanotypes. It says "Potassium ferricyanide is only slightly hazardous by itself." Among the precautions is to "avoid using carbon arcs for printing" and saying that using "sunlight, a sunlamp or another light source" is preferable.

-Darren

[Vaughn]

That is the standard dope about Potassium ferricyanide/cyanotypes. It is considered a safe process for kids...and I do not know how many 10s of thousands of "Sun Print" kits have been sold and used by kids.

Carbon arc lamps are intense -- a good friend ran the carbon-arc powered Simplex projector at the local movie house for awhile. The movie house cat was also named Simplex. The print-making lab at the university ran one for silk screening many years ago.