bjm@brunix.UUCP (Barb Meier) (02/27/84)
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My favorite black and white paper is Agfa Portriga. I do a lot of
toning, both sepia and selenium, and handcoloring; this paper takes
well to both toning and handcoloring. The tone is a rich brownish black.
I have only used the semi-matte. They claim to have other surfaces, but
I have never seen any. I have had some problems finding this paper.
You can enhance the brown tones by using Dektol to develop it.
I like the look that Dektol gives, but generally prefer SPRINT chemicals
to Kokak. The SPRINT chemistry (for both b&w and color) was developed by
a RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) instructor. Its biggest advantage
over Kodak is that it comes in liquid form thus eliminating undissolved
crystals. Unfortunately, I have never seen SPRINT chemicals outside of
Rhode Island. Last time I was in Columbus, Ohio (my original home), I
asked in a photo store if they would consider looking into SPRINT. I was
told "No way. If people have never heard of it, they won't buy it no
matter how good it is." Too bad.
SPRINT is in the process of developing chemicals for hand-painted
emulsions. I took a RISD course last spring in antique processes that
used these chemicals. Although you can get most of the chemicals elsewhere
(I am told), it was really nice to have them already mixed in the proper
ratios. The processes that we covered were cyanotype (blueprinting),
brownprinting, gum arabic, and platinum printing. Each of these involves
painting an emulsion on paper (e.g. rag paper), and making a long (several
minutes) contact exposure under uv light. I fell in love with platinum
printing; unfortunately, the platinum for a 4x5 print costs several dollars.
SPRINT also makes some older negative developers such as Allstar Pyro which
gives better tonal range. This developer is (nearly) the same as that used by
many of the best photographers in the early part of this century;
unfortunately, it is very dangerous - rubber gloves are required for
developing sheet film.
Barb Meier, Brown University
...{decvax, allegra}!brunix!bjm