John Dugdale

Judy Seigel suggested the best way to get a hold of John Dugdale was by phone and she gave me his numbers, one for his place in West Village Manhattan, one for his place in the country. She observed that being nearly blind, John didn't spend a lot of time reading e-mail.  

My interest in cyanotypes started on seeing John's work in print. I was aware of the history of the process, Herschel's invention in 1843 making it one of the earliest methods of fixing an image. The accomplished practitioners of cyanotype seem to have been few and far between, with Anna Atkins being one of the most prominent. Her photograms of British algae were assembled into the first photobook. Algae has perhaps never been depicted so sublimely.

John Dugdale was a successful commercial photographer in Manhattan in 1993 when an AIDS related stroke left him in the hospital for months often near death. While he recovered, CMV retinitis blinded him in his right eye and took all but 20% of his vision in his left eye. 

John returned to a personal photography after leaving the hospital switching to an antique large format Kodak camera. John employs friends and family, personal belongings and his home in his portraits, still lives and landscapes. His work hearkens back to the time of Herschel, Talbot and Cameron - an emerging time of photography and photographic vision. Relying on an assistant to focus the image on the ground glass, John directs his personal vision and style in the composition in front of him. He relies on his previous professional experience when he had full vision in understanding how light strikes and models objects, and how a slight turn of a vase or flex of an arm can strengthen the final expression. His intimate and delicate images are confidently and strongly composed. While acknowledging his 19th century influences, his work has the leanness of a modern simple sensibility.

I've seen his work in reproduction in several books. His first book, Lengthening Shadows before Nightfall, was published by Twin Palms in 1995 and was followed by Life's Evening Hour which juxtaposes John's images with passages from Dickinson and the Bible. The reproductions are quite good. I went to PhotoLA in January in the hopes of seeing some of his original prints but was unsuccessful. As I scouted around the net looking for John's local gallery representation I came across a reminder that 21st Photography had published The Clandestine Mind in a deluxe edition with photogravure reproductions of John's work. Given my additional interest in the photogravure process, I called up Lance Speer and asked if there was any remote possibility of one of those editions remaining. He said I was in luck, and he quickly shipped a copy out. The photogravure reproductions were wonderful. Lance mentioned they were made by Jon Goodman, and I mused again at how small the world is and at the connections to be found.

I was nervous calling up John. So much of my communication is by e-mail, I'd forgotten how personal a phone call could be. I'm not sure when the last time was I called someone up unannounced.  I left messages at both his numbers (his message in the country mentioning he was probably in the field). He called me back later that day and the first thing that struck me was his voice - a bit unexpected, warm and no nonsense. I told him how much I loved his work, and we talked about some of his prints, and we chatted at length about making cyanotypes. 

It was a simple and unadorned conversation about family, photography, and vision. I went into my darkroom later and tackled cyanotypes anew.

Paper Revival: Weston Diploma Parchment Plat/Pal

So, I've recently made some beautifully detailed, smoothly toned cyanotypes using my store of discontinued Crane's Weston Diploma Parchment and Mike Ware's new cyanotype process. I purchased 250 sheets of 11 inch by 14 inch, and 100 sheets of 28 inch by 34 inch in June 2007 from Bostick and Sullivan. The paper is extremely smooth, a warm slightly cream color (that lightens during washing), and it is exceedingly difficult to determine a smoother side for coating. The paper is subject to chemical fogging with the new cyanotype process, though this is easily controlled with one drop of 40% citric acid solution to 1ml of sensitizer. By 2008, Crane and Co., the sole supplier of currency paper to the U.S. Treasury, ceased production of this paper.

As I was looking around for information on my remaining store of Weston Diploma Parchment, I found a posting on the f295.org site stating the paper had been relaunched by the Butler-Dearden Paper Service Inc. The story here is very interesting to the alternative process community in that it seems Weston Diploma Parchment was relaunched specifically for alternative process printing.

Last Monday, I contacted John M. Zokowski by e-mail at Butler-Dearden inquiring about the availability of the paper and pricing. He replied promptly and offered to send out a sample, which I received by Thursday when I was preparing to leave for Jamaica. I stole an hour before my red-eye flight to take the paper for a spin with the new cyanotype process.

John had sent me five or six sheets of 11 inch by 14 inch paper in a sturdy shipping envelope. John's detailed description of the paper includes the following specifications:

Weight: 177GSM/47#

Thickness: 10 MILS

Color: Warm White

pH: 6.5 Average

Surface: Velvety Smooth

Edge: Plain

Fiber: 100% RAG

Sizing: Rosin-Alum

The paper looks like the former Weston Diploma Parchment. As I pulled out a sheet, I immediately noticed a difference. There is (to my Bergger COT 320 trained fingertips) a front smooth surface and a rougher back surface, not as pronounced as COT 320, but there nonetheless. If anything, the smooth surface is even smoother than the original from Crane's. It felt the same weight as its predecessor.

I did not have time to do a full PDN calibration, as I wasn't yet finished packing, so I decided to process it like its predecessor. I quickly rod coated a sheet with 2ml of new cyanotype sensitizer with 2 drops of 40% citric acid solution. It coated smoothly and quickly, and on pass five of the rod began buckling as the original was wont to do. I let it dry for about 20 minutes and completed drying it to bone dry with a hair dryer set to low heat. No blue spotting, or green turn to the emulsion - so far so good. I grabbed a digital negative I had made from the calibration of the original paper, and a 31 step tablet, and exposed the lot in my vacuum frame for 2m 20s.

The paper looked well exposed before I placed it face down in a water bath with a splash of very dilute hydrochloric acid. I moved it after a minute to a plain water bath and since I was in a hurry I let it sit only a couple minutes before gently spraying it with a hose to complete clearing.

The rebirthed paper felt similar in wet strength to the original - which is to say it gets fragile quickly. This is no problem with cyanotype processing as the wash is pretty quick. I inspected the 31 step tablet exposure and decided that this new paper was slower than the original paper, but only slightly. I think a calibration would put its standard print time somewhere short of 3m 30s. When I get back from vacation I want to try a calibration without the added citric acid - this version may not be subject to the chemical fogging of the original.

I am just about to send my order in to John Zokowski for 200 sheets (or... more?) of the 28 x 34 sheets, and to thank John for his work on reviving this paper. I'm just a bit distracted by the Jamaican Hummingbirds flitting amongst the feeders. 

The New Cyanotype: First Impressions

I've been exploring the new cyanotype process invented by Mike Ware these past few weeks. This is the first of a series of notes.

I decided to give the new cyanotype process a try because of some frustrations I had with variations on the classic cyanotype method. The biggest problem being highlight staining, areas of deep blue bleeding into highlights fouling them. Also, emulsion run off while washing the print. A print would look good following exposure showing the "tone reversal" (formation of Prussian White in the shadows) on correct exposure, but then the wash water would take on a blue Ti-D-Bol look as the print washed away leaving an anemic result.

Mike Ware suggested I try his new method during some correspondence. I was aware of it, and had read about the process. It has gotten a reputation for being complicated, but I would beg to disagree. Replacing the ferric ammonium citrate with ferric ammonium oxalate as the sensitizer, heating the two solutions to dissolve (the second being the same potassium ferricyanide as in the original process) in a hot water bath to dissolve, combine both and let cool overnite. Filter the precipated crystals (coffee filter suffices) and top off with distilled water and (with a touch of ammonium dichromate - please use gloves and filter mask) you have a single bottle solution that has a shelf life of 4 - 5 years. Mike has complete instructions on his site.

Mike eliminated the grinding of the potassium ferricyanide long ago. He rightly points out that the materials used are more hazardous than in the classic formula - but really not much more hazardous than the chemicals used for palladium printing, and certainly a far cry from the daguerreotypists concerns.

Mike's observations on the two processes held true for me. I had some difficulty getting the sensitizer to penetrate papers with the traditional cyanotype formula. Tween 20 may have helped, but I was always left with a slightly gritty feeling on the coated surface. The new cyanotype emulsion penetrates the paper I've settled on, Crane's Weston Diploma Parchment, greedily. The addition of a drop of Tween 20 to 5ml of solution (which coats with a glass rod a 8+ inch by 28 inch sheet in 5 passes) will cause the emulsion to emerge out the other side of the paper! No Tween 20 needed. Coat smoothly and rapidly, with confidence. I did have to add a drop of 40% citric acid solution per ml of sensitizer to avoid chemical fogging by the paper.

As the (Mark Nelson designed) 31 step tablet shows to the right, cyanotype is capable of a huge tonal scale. The tablet (laid over with Pictorico Ultra Premium OHP Transparency Film which I use to prepare my digital negatives) shows 24 or 25 steps of exposure scale (each step being 1/3 stop). The tones are smooth. For all intents and purposes with the extremely smooth surface of the paper I am using this is showing smoothness and detail as if it were a fine blue palladium print.

Exposure time is speedy - using Mark Nelson's Precision Digital Negative system I  calibrated a Standard Print Time of 2m 20s. I'm too old for the exposure times of classic cyanotype. Once I calibrated the process and paper I was whipping out prints like there was no tomorrow.

The sensitizer really gets into the paper and binds well (Mike explains why on his site). With classic cyanotype I had settled on an inverted wash in still water per Sam Wang's suggestion to minimize the emulsion runoff after exposure. Be gentle. Not so with the new cyanotype. Perhaps I'm getting a little crazy, but I dip it in a slightly (hydrochloric acid) acidified wash for one minute, put it inverted in clear water for a few minutes, flip it drain and run the gentle spray of a hose over the image to completely clear.

I will try the classic cyanotype process again to round out my experience with alternative processes. John Dugdale uses the traditional cyanotype process with great success. Anna Atkins algae series is sublime. But I think I'll be sticking with the new cyanotype process for my work moving forward.

Recent Extinctions: Crane's Weston Diploma Parchment

I settled on a paper for making cyanotypes using Mike Ware's new cyanotype process, a natural tone Crane's Weston Diploma Parchment. Crane Paper Company stopped manufacturing this paper a year ago. It was considered a worthy successor to the whiter, also discontinued, Crane's Platinotype.

I had been struggling unsuccessfully with Arches Platine and Bergger COT 320 and the new cyanotype process. Belatedly I found a reference to a speckling problem with Arches Platine and the new cyanotype process. Platine coated smoothly, and did not exhibit highlight staining with either the old or new cyanotype process, but I was unable to overcome this speckling (mottling) problem. Interestingly, I saw speckling in the lighter midtones with the old cyanotype process on Platine, while speckling showed in the darker midtones with the new process.

I bought 100 sheets of 28" x 34" Weston Diploma Parchment from Bostick and Sullivan in June 2007. Along with 250 sheets of 11" x 14". Weston Diploma Parchment is a hot pressed paper with an extremely smooth surface. It is a rather thin (47lb), unbuffered 100% rag paper. I tried coating the paper with a cheap foam brush, but the surface abrades easily. I instead rod coat it, 5ml of sensitizer for a 10" x 28" strip. I do not use Tween 20, as the paper greedily absorbs the sensitizer without it. The paper buckles after the fourth or fifth pass of the rod, so you have to work quickly.

 

Like Platinotype its wet strength sucks, to put it mildly. But that is fine for cyanotypes which does not require much washing to clear. The paper tears easily when wet, but regains its strength on drying. It seems the warm color of the paper fades a bit with processing.

Mike Ware asked me why I had struggled so much with his process, and it was simply that I refused to let go of Platine and try other papers. It was John Dugdale who told me I was making this too complicated and that when he started with cyanotypes he went to the art store and grabbed 50 different kinds of paper and tried them all and used the one that worked best.  I mentally let go of the Platine paper and grabbed the Weston Diploma and that eliminated the speckling problem. Mike had suggested the addition of citric acid to overcome chemical fog for some papers, and it worked like a charm. I let the paper air dry in the dark about 1/2 hour, and try to use it in less than a couple hours. The sensitized paper starts turning green after a few hours, perhaps due to my tungsten working light. At this point it becomes fogged and unusable. 

New cyanotype on Weston Diploma has a Dmax of 1.31 on exposure of 2m 20s in my UV box. It has a huge exposure scale of 28 steps on a 31 step tablet. The smooth surface holds tremendous detail.

Similar to the possibility of bringing back to life other recent extinctions, Butler Dearden Paper Service, Inc. has seemingly begun manufacturing Weston Diploma Parchment again.

Mike John Ware

Dr. Mike John Ware is an accomplished British photographer and rigorous chemist. An Oxford University doctorate in chemistry, his research focused on molecular spectroscopy. Mike has undertaken fundamental studies in historic photographic processes and preservation of photographs working with The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and The Victoria & Albert Museum. Mike brings to bear hard science on alternative processes, providing refreshingly authoritative original material to a landscape littered perhaps to often of incorrect information passed from one historic text to the next. He has written three books that are in-depth modern classics of alternative photographic processes. 

The first, which is perhaps the bible of cyanotypes today, is Cyanotype: The history, science and art of photographic printing in Prussian Blue. Describing its history, practice and variations Mike presents his New Cyanotype Process which is a modern revision of one of the oldest methods of reproducing a photographic image to paper.

The second and third books form a pair, and are still in print, covering the use of gold in photography, and the chrysotype or gold print. Gold in Photography: The History and Art of Chrysotype is the first published history of gold in the arts and photography. It is a very good read on the use of gold in art, its manifestations and it many uses in photography and a history of the attempts at creating a practical method of printing in gold going back to Herschel. Mike perfected a practical method of gold printing he calls the chrysotype, a process by which a wide range of tones can be achieved. Ironically, the only tone that can not be achieved in the chrysotype is that of gold itself. Mike delves into areas of chemistry and materials, including nanoparticle theory unknown to Herschel, to finally explain the appearance of gold prints and to solve the puzzle of creating a practical method. This ability to convert pure science into practical methods of photography is one of Mike's strengths. The second book in the pair is The Chrysotype Manual: The Science and Practice of Photographic Printing in Gold which presents instruction for the advanced alternative process photographer on how to create chrysotypes using Mike's new method. 

Mike Ware's web site is a trove of information on the iron-based alternative photographic, or siderotype, processes. There is a detailed article on the re-invention of the chrysotype process.

Alternative photography process books are typically done in small printings, destined most often to never see a second edition. The Cyanotype book is only available used and fetches a premium. The chrysotype books are still available on Siderotype.com and can be paid for by Paypal.

I am not one to give out advice in strict ways, but these books on chrysotypes are a gold mine of information on the iron-based processes in general, and will occupy a place of honor in your collection. Don't complain to me when they go out of print. You have been warned.

Mike Ware's photography can be found in his online galleries.

From Digital to Cyanotype

Alternative processes for photography are most often UV light sensitive only. Because UV enlargers do not exist, you need a negative the same size as the final print for contact printing. In the past this has mostly been done with either in camera original negatives (using large format view cameras to produce the negative) or enlarged negatives using copy film. Tillman Crane, an accomplished photographer and platinum printer, has an extensive description on how to produce an enlarged negative in a traditional darkroom.

The resurgence of interest in alternative photographic printing in relative terms just preceded the emergence of widespread digital photography. William Crawford's The Keepers of Light published in 1980 was a guidepost for many early re-practitioners of  these processes.

Photography exists primarily for the masses and for commercial use to communicate, influence and store memories. Insofar as widespread commercial use overlaps the needs of the artist, materials are available for the artist's use. As digital photography began replacing traditional photography across a broad spectrum of the photographic business (event and sport photography, photojournalism, consumer) sources of materials for traditional film-based photography - including material for making enlarged negatives for contact printing - began disappearing.

I think it is this ability to blend the old alternative processes with new digital methods for making negatives that will rapidly emerge as the standard approach to making traditional photographic prints. 

At the top of this article is a (transmission) scan of the digital negative I created to produce the cyanotype print below. Using Mark Nelson's Precision Digital Negative system. I calibrated the traditional cyanotype process using step tablets to determine an ink combination to produce a negative on Mitsubishi Ultra Premium Pictorico film on an Epson 3800 with full tonal range and densities calibrated to the process, chemistry, paper and light source. Digital negatives are created on transparent film using dye or pigment based inks. It is obvious that the negative is not black and white as is a silver negative. Exploiting the different UV blocking capabilities of the different colors of ink in a printer is key to producing high quality digital negatives.

The second image above shows the coated sheet of Arches Platine paper with the cyanotype emulsion before exposure. The digital negative is sandwiched ("emulsion" to emulsion) and placed in my built-in vacuum frame in my custom UV exposure unit from Edwards Engineered Products.

My exposure time is 3 minutes and 32 seconds, which is quite a short exposure for cyanotypes. As the image just above shows, cyanotype is a printing out process, which means the image is fully created during exposure. Traditional silver gelatin printing is a developing out process which shows no image whatsoever until the exposed print is subjected to chemical action by the developer. Some processes like palladium printing are partial printing out process where the developer completes the visible changes started during exposure. For the exposed cyanotype, the paper is cleared of unexposed emulsion by placing it inverted in a tray of water, ensuring there are no trapped air bubbles under the paper, and letting it stand for 8 - 10 minutes. The goal is to remove all of the yellow emulsion stain from the image. Depending on your paper, your wash time may be longer. Following clearing, a 30 second dip in a tray of water to which a splash of hydrogen peroxide solution has been added will bring the image to full intensity immediately. The step is unnecessary if one has patience as the image color will strengthen to the same end result in 24 hours or more. I let the print drip free holding it by a corner, and then lay it flat on a paper towel. I take a roll of blue shop paper towels and roll it over the print to remove any surface water remaining and then allow the print to dry. Alternately you can simply hang dry the print. The print may be flattened in a press for final mounting and presentation.

I have a lot more to cover about digital negatives and alternative processes!

Cyanotypes

I've been struggling with technical aspects of cyanotype over the past couple weeks. And those struggles go to the root of why I started this discourse. To describe challenges and solutions and approaches for some processes I'm experimenting with.

The problems I have encountered so far include highlight staining, unblocking shadow detail, resolving mottling in mid-tones and highlights and achieving a smooth tonal gradation. I've been discussing these problems over e-mail with Mark Nelson, Sam Wang, Chris Anderson and Beth Moon, and re-reading Mike Ware's and other's technical notes on coating methods and problems. These problems and their solutions will be discussed further in the next few posts.

I have been using three test images during my calibration of Herschel's classic cyanotype, and those images suggest an approach to test image choice when tackling a new process.

The above high key image challenges the process to distinguish tone and detail in highlight. It also brought to light the mottling of the emulsion when coating Arches Platine that my low key image hid.

Much of my work when tackling a new alternative process involves calibration with a step tablet, determination of exposure time, and construction of curves using Mark Nelson's Precision Digital Negative system. At some point towards the end of that calibration process you want to print a test image that exhibits a range of tones from shadow to highlight with mid-tones present. Also, the image should have detail to allow judging the sharpness of the image. I have been using the image of the figure in coiled irrigation duct for that step.

For checking the calibration and handling of shadow detail I use the low key image to the left. The interior of the black bowl has a lot of subtle detailed variation in the darkest tones of the scale and revealing those details in a print requires a careful calibration and adjustment curve for each alternative process.

Paper choice, emulsion formula, coating method, development, humidity. These all factor into the calibration of an alternative process. Variations in any of these will affect the final result and ultimately mean the difference between a mediocre print, a good print and the final goal of an exquisite one.

Bulk chemicals vs. pre-packs

At some point one will ask themselves the question "Should I buy pre-packaged chemicals or buy them in bulk?" This is almost the same as deciding whether to do your shopping at the corner grocery store or at Costco.

The difference in price is great when you consider the chemistry needed for cyanotype.

I buy a lot of my supplies fro Bostick and Sullivan. They sell a pre-packaged cyanotype kit for $24.95. The kit comes dry, pre-measured in bottles. They state that the kit will allow you to make about 200 8" x 10" prints (about $0.12 per print). The kit is shipped dry, you simply add distilled water to the top of each bottle and shake and you're done.

What is very convenient and safe about this is that you never handle the dry chemical, there is no measuring and transfer, and little opportunity for the fine powder to go airborne. All that said, wear gloves and a mask when preparing and handling the kit. Once the solutions are made, the emulsion is mixed as needed in small amounts for coating paper by combining the two solutions in a 1:1 ratio. The shelf life of the solutions is two years.

What is cool about Bostick and Sullivan is they have instructions on line for several alternative processes, including cyanotype.

You can buy the chemicals for the cyanotype process in bulk from a place like Art Craft Chemicals. There are many formulas for mixing the sensitizer and the Prussian Blue precursor (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide). I am mixing 

• Solution A: 20 grams of ferric ammonium citrate (green) into 100 milliliters of distilled water (the sensitizer)
• Solution B: 8 grams of potassium ferricyanide into 100 milliliters of distilled water

I bought 1 pound of ferric ammonium citrate for $30.00, and 1 pound of potassium ferricyanide for $16.50. Normalizing the quantities (I need less potassium ferricyanide than I ordered) this is sufficient to make almost 10 times the amount of solution at only twice the cost of the Bostick and Sullivan kit, or very roughly 2 cents a sheet of 8" x 10" paper. And you can coat 2,500 sheets.

And herein lies the basic problem. How sure are you that you will like the process to do that much printing? Is blue your favorite color? The other problem is: to create the stock solutions you will need to purchase a small scale for weighing and some measuring cups (you're not going to use the measuring cups you use for cooking, just as you are not going to prepare the solutions anywhere near food). As you transfer the bulk chemicals and divide into smaller portions you have a much greater likelihood of airborne dust - more a hazard than the mixed solutions themselves.

A final problem is that these - and other chemicals for alternative processes - are hazardous materials. If you tire of a process you will have more chemicals to dispose of properly if you buy in bulk than if you buy the smaller kits. Christopher James's book has a good discussion on handling many of the chemicals for alternative processes.

Some things to consider as you explore different processes.

A final thought. It is well known that the sensitizing Solution A for cyanotypes is a perfect breeding ground for mold - I've been skimming it off in fascination. It does not seemingly harm the sensitizer (but can ruin a coating if you don't remove it from the solution). I never saw this with the Bostick and Sullivan kit - I think Kevin Sullivan is adding a preservative to Solution A to eliminate this problem.

I'm not a fan of mold.

Feeling a Bit Blue

Bleu, bleu, le monde est bleu.

I spent the past couple days wrestling with classic cyanotype. This is somewhat embarrassing, given the supposed ease with which this most basic of processes can be done. Invented by John Herschel (a famous polymath) in 1842, it is simplicity itself. Two chemicals, expose in sun, develop in water, dry. Voilà! Anna Atkins created the first photography book consisting of sublime photograms of British Algae using this process.

Above is the cyanotype paper after a 6 minute UV exposure and before water development. Note the dark tone reversal (Prussian White, which reverses back to Prussian Blue on oxidation in air).

I've had two problems. Well, maybe there's a third one.

First, I've had runoff of the emulsion in the water wash. At various times as I've approached this process I've made small steps of progress. The cyanotype process does not like alkaline environments. Papers, contamination, or water. I purchased an Extech PH100 meter to determine that my tap water was alkaline (8.5 pH). So I now acidify my water a bit. I tried several papers as I've mentioned before. Crane's Platinotype and Crane's Weston Diploma had a lot of emulsion runoff for me. Bergger COT-320 (my preferred palladium printing paper) did not work well either. It has been somewhat frustrating in that I spend a bit of time with it and then go off to work on something else and return after a period of months to consider it again.

Obviously I'm not really worrying about this.

Mark Nelson told me that Sam Wang clears his cyanotypes by simply inverting the paper in a tray of water and letting it quietly sit. I was washing the paper, and fiddling with it as I had done for palladium prints. Sam's method is simple and helps reduce the runoff. In trading e-mails with him in the past couple days he said he clears his prints for "5 to 10 minutes" in reaction to my 30 minute clearing stake in the ground ("Life's too short to wait half an hour!", to which I agree).

The biggest reduction in runoff I've gotten is from switching to Arches Platine, per Mark Nelson's suggestion of Christina Z. Anderson's preferred paper for cyanotype (I think?). I am able to smoothly rod coat it, making sufficient passes to get an even coat without puddling of emulsion on the surface. Crane's papers buckled quickly before absorbing the cyanotype emulsion when I tried rod coating before - and then would abrade on hake brush coating making the surface rough. I air dry the Arches paper and then bring it to bone dry with a hair dryer before exposure.

The struggle this weekend on runoff has to do with exposure time. I was told early on during one of my attempts that underexposure will result in emulsion runoff. And I seemed to verify this weekend that a 20 minute exposure had little or no runoff. However, I ended up with an overexposed print (as measured by a Stouffer 31 step wedge designed by Mark Nelson and available on his web site). This irks me - I prefer not to overexpose prints handspring in compensation around it. When I dropped exposure time to eliminate the blocking of shadows in the step wedge, runoff occurred. My goal is at this point to keep it to a minimum.

The second problem I've been having is bleeding of the Prussian Blue into the highlights. This was truly problematic with Crane's Platinotype. A white highlight was not in my ability to pull of with that paper. The technique of fast oxidation by dipping the cleared print briefly in a water bath with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide made the bleeding much worse. Two changes seem to have solved this problem. First, Arches Platine is the cyanotype wonder paper in my book. It is bleed resistant. The second factor was some recent experiments by Chris Anderson. Her web page illustrates the bleeding issue well. The short of it is reducing the proportion of  the ferric ammonium citrate in the emulsion eliminated bleeding. My emulsion is now 1 part water, 1 part Solution A (20 gm ferric ammonium citrate/100 ml distilled water), 2 parts Solution B (8 gm potassium ferricyanide/100 ml distilled water), and one drop of Tween 20 10% solution per 60 drops of emulsion. The Tween 20 help to spread the emulsion uniformly and I added after seeing some beading of the emulsion on the paper during coating. A little goes a long way.

So, much progress was made this weekend. To the right is the developed print after a 7 minute inverted clearing in a mildly acidified water bath, followed by a 30 second inverted immersion in a water bath to which a splash of hydrogen peroxide was added. The bleeding problem is non-existent - I lay the paper flat on a blue shop paper towel and press another sheet on top to remove the excess water before allowing to air dry.

I'm now struggling with blocking in shadows. Looking for some insights from Mark at this point. 

My third problem is one perhaps of perfectionism. Yes, cyanotype is an easy process. But I'm thinking like any printing process (especially alternative processes) it is easy to get a print. To get an excellent print, and to be able to reproduce that feat for other images. Ah, there's the rub.

Tomorrow is another day, I'll take my wins to bed.

The Cyanotype Process

I stumbled across a printout of a chapter on cyanotypes from Christopher James's most excellent book, and I had quite forgotten where I had found it. It turns out the cyanotype process is the sample chapter from his book published  on his website.

This is quite a find, it is full of valuable information on the process, alternate techniques, and toning approaches.

I had forgotten the quote from the naturalist photographer Peter Henry Emerson that is related in James's chapter, "... no one but a vandal would print a landscape in red, or in cyanotype."