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. 

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.

Arches Platine

One of the extreme pleasures of alternative processes is playing with some very fine papers. Compared to a purely digital darkroom, alternative processes afford a very sensual experience.

For the past couple days I have been coating (and coating and coating) Arches Platine with cyanotype emulsion. Mark Nelson had said that Christina Z. Anderson (I think) used Arches Platine successfully with cyanotype. This in response to my frustrations with emulsion runoff in the washout with first Crane's Platinotype (which seems to be no longer manufactured, replaced by their cover stock?), then Bergger COT 320 (my preferred paper for palladium prints), and later Crane's Weston Diploma (which also appears to be missing in action now?). I'm making much better progress with classic cyanotype on Arches Platine - runoff is minimal and there is no bleeding into highlights.

The Arches paper mill has a long history. The Fabriano mill has an even longer and storied history. 

Platine is luxurious. Have you ever stayed in a high end hotel, hit the bed after a long day of travelling, and felt enveloped by a soft but firm bed, and pillows that invited dreaming? I always wondered where they got those beds. Arches is a thick, 100% cotton paper (310 gsm) that comes in 22" x 30" sheets, with a smooth hot pressed surface, and a neutral pH. It is also available in 30" x 44" sheets. It has no whiteners or brighteners, yet appears very white. The front of the paper (watermark right reading) is smoother than the back and is the side I coat. You can tell the smooth front side of the paper from the rougher back side by light touch (with clean hands) - try flipping a paper over and over and see if you can tell the difference. Not as pronounced as Bergger COT-320, which I orient correctly for coating by touch without thinking anymore. I have been easily rod coating Arches Platine, and the well-sized surface is rugged and does not raise a nap or roughen  after repeated passes. 

I tear the paper along the edge of a plate glass top I work on, moving my hands down as I tear about 6 inch sections. This gives the resulting sheet a more natural edge better matching the original edges of the full sheet of paper. I've started wearing nitrile gloves while handling the paper to keep from marring the paper with fingerprints which can interfere with coating.