W/NW alternative process prints

[mrtoml]

I don't think there is a thread for alt process printing on RFF. I have just started experimenting with it. Please post yours.

This is a cyanotype printed as a digital negative using the PiezoDN system and the canned curve for cyanotype on Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag. It is unlinearised and looks weak on contrast. I have just done the linearisation so I am going to print it again tomorrow with the new negative. I toned it in wine tannin after bleaching in sodium carbonate solution but it is still not right.

 

[mrtoml]

I did the linearization and reprinted the negative. It is much better. The PiezoDN system seems to work quite well. I can now theoretically print any file to a negative and get a decent result. I will let this print dry overnight and tone it again tomorrow. Next week I will try and set up the system for Argyrotypes.

 

[mrtoml]

The toned version. Partial bleach in socium carbonate and wine tannin.

 

[mrtoml]

Another image straight cyanotype.

 

[froyd]

The toned version. Partial bleach in socium carbonate and wine tannin.

View attachment 4875197

Nery nice. Is it fairly stable with normal exposure to light?

 

[mrtoml]

Nery nice. Is it fairly stable with normal exposure to light?

I know that cyanotypes are fairly stable. They can fade in certain conditions (alkalinity I think), but can sometimes be revived.

Toned cyanotypes are a different matter and I don't think there is definitive evidence. I started these experiments with cyanotypes because they are (relatively) easy to do and to test the calibration system of PiezoDN. I am moving on now to argyrotypes which is a modified Vandyck brown technique. I am not a particular fan of cyanotype, but I think it does suit certain subjects and it is easy to process (just water essentially). I have always been more of a fan of warm toned prints.

Because argyrotypes are an iron/silver process they can be toned in the usual silver toners such as gold, selenium etc. So if the argyrotype is printed on acid free paper and gold toned (which is what I am going to try) this should be archival.

Another problem with toning cyanotype is that tannins stain the paper so whites are subdued in the toned print. This would not happen with a silver process.

 

[sojournerphoto]

I have a cyanotype I did as a set of contact prints from half a dozen medium format negs of our girls when they were small. Even though I’m not really a cyanotype fan, these work well with the subject.

 

[mrtoml]

My first argyrotype. I think I left it too long in the fixing bath. It started to fade in the tray which I believe is a bad thing. Contrast is a tad low.

 

[mrtoml]

A cyanotype on Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag, partial bleach in sodium carbonate solution and toned in tannic acid.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Way back when I was fairly into platinum-palladium prints, and at one point I had a solo exhibition of nothing but them. I shot and printed a variety of formats - 4x5”, 5x7”, 8x10”, 4x10” and even 6x9cm (which were really fun to do). Unfortunately the costs got to be too much for me and I stopped doing them. Ah well it was fun while it lasted.


Goodyear Cottage by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Untitled DC1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Ice by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[Vince Lupo]

A few more printed as platinum-palladium. First one is 5x7”, second is 4x5”, third is 8x10”.


Forest Glen by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Brice House by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Lady of Sorrows by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[rfaspen]

I have always considered the Pt/Pd print to be "the ultimate" photographic result. Too costly for me these days as well. Too bad because it's now fairly easy to make a decent digital negative. I'm still doing cyanos...

 

[Muggins]

A cyanotype on Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag, partial bleach in sodium carbonate solution and toned in tannic acid.

View attachment 4875966

That is just gorgeous!

 

[Muggins]

Cyanotype on a cheap cotton pillow case - the hardest bit was drying it first, ended up using a hairdryer inside the case!

Simple but very satisfying.

 

[mrtoml]

That is just gorgeous!

Thanks for the kind words. I am struggling to reproduce this effect which is annoying. With cyanotypes it seems extremely difficult to get consistent results although I am enjoying the process of contact printing. It's a bit like lith printing which I used to do a lot and the unrepeatability was part of its charm.

I am going to move on to other methods soon I think. I just got some Vandyke Brown sensitizer and I have a fair bit of Argyrotype solution left.

 

[mrtoml]

Here is another cyanotype I did today. PiezoDN negative on Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag. Very quick bleach in sodium carbonate solution. This paper was coated 2 days ago and seems to be more sensitive now than before.

 

[Muggins]

Cyanotype on a cheap cotton pillow case - the hardest bit was drying it first, ended up using a hairdryer inside the case!

Simple but very satisfying.
View attachment 4876113View attachment 4876114

Disaster! Just washed the pillowcases abs c this is the result - what did I do wrong? Especially as the underside is still blue-ish where the solution came through when it was applied.

Edit - there was apparently a hydrogen peroxide based whitener in there as well as soap.

 

[Freakscene]

In the last years of the previous century and the first few years of this one, I ran a roaring trade in manufacturing printed mild lies. This scene, which looks like end-of-age Britain or fin de siécle France, was shot on the farm of a friend in 2001 using a 19th century glass plate camera (on TMX glass plates, if you can believe such a thing existed) and printed as a printing-out-platinum print (ziatype, where you just wash the print when you are done, no real development needed) on hand-coated paper made from old hospital sheets at a place called the Blue Lake Paper Mill in Mount Gambier, South Australia. This copy is framed and a bit stained, and I can’t find the other one. I dropped and shattered the negative while getting ready to make the third print. I have a few dozen of these photos. People loved them, but they made me feel uneasy. It was all too artificial. Shot on a dead still day, 2.5s @f32.

 

[mrtoml]

Another cyanotype. I left the paper a couple of days and it seems to gain sensitivity but lose contrast.

 

[valdas]

I don't think there is a thread for alt process printing on RFF. I have just started experimenting with it. Please post yours.

This is a cyanotype printed as a digital negative using the PiezoDN system and the canned curve for cyanotype on Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag. It is unlinearised and looks weak on contrast. I have just done the linearisation so I am going to print it again tomorrow with the new negative. I toned it in wine tannin after bleaching in sodium carbonate solution but it is still not right.



View attachment 4875119

How do yo get wine tannins? Is this some kind of extracted form or…?