MorseBlog

(This is a reprint of an update I appended to the original post .) The new magnets have arrived and I have been able to complete the flattening fixture. It continues to perform as expected.  The new magnets are solid 10mm x 3mm discs and are in fact stronger. I have modified the wooden strips the magnets are mounted in to include a 4mm through-hole behind each magnet. This allows me to push the magnets out again if needed or they become skewed.  In the end I found the magnets press-fit tightly enough in the 10mm holes I drilled that no adhesive was needed. I used a wood block and mallet to gently tap the magnets flush with the wood surface. The through-holes allowed me to adjust his if I tapped them in too deeply or they became skewed. The next step was to cover the magnets in polyurethane varnish.  I noticed with my first test print that the magnets had left a stain (see below). This is despite the claim...

Earlier this year I revisited this subject as my darkroom printing had changed to using odd sized papers based upon a new aesthetic of smaller prints with wider borders. Since I found myself cutting down larger standard paper to custom sizes my flattening solutions based on standard paper sizes (8x10", 12x16", and 16x20")  were not up to the job  (Click the link above to see that solution and find links to the original versions.)  The fixture I made earlier this year works well and has offered the needed flexibility. It is however not simple to fabricate and requires woodworking tools like a router and skills that are not available to everyone. At the time I considered using magnets and metal sheeting but with a quick search on the web I couldn't find the sheet material I wanted in the quantity (1 sheet) and size I needed. Last week I looked again in eBay and found a vendor who sole 600x400mm (23 1/2"x15 3/4") sheets of perfo...

Introduction Fiber-based print flattening has a lot of suggested solutions, not all of them have been very satisfactory to me. When I first started print fiber-based paper in earnest I researched different suggestions on forums. They varied from very simple to more complex. There are lots of solutions and many people have their favorite method.  Hang the prints back to back (this was never very satisfactory for me). Sandwich the prints between sheets of blotter paper that is weighted with books. (I only got moldy prints from this.)  Vacuum bags. (never tried) Use of watercolor tape (this lead to this solution  I am not here to challenge other techniques just share what works for me.  The solution I settled on back in 2014 was based on a method that used water color tape which  has a water based adhesive. The idea was as the print dried the paper shrunk and the taped edges held the paper in tension and ...

Introduction During the last few days as I have been making and toning images on Ilford MG Art 300 paper I got the idea that the paper has such a nice weight and feel it could make good note cards. Pursuing this idea I started with the Gradient Birch image I have been using lately. Needless to say I like the image a lot. It is also easy to print as it doesn't require any manipulations like burning or dodging. Since I plan to make a lot of these I didn't want an image that is complex to produce. Blog Post Cover Image Card Layout: Deciding on a Size I started out with the 12 inch x 16 inch dimensions of the paper I have. A reasonable card size is 4x6 inches folded from 4x8 inch paper. I can get 4 of these from a 12x16 sheet. At £3 a sheet it is less that £1 cost for each card. I then have to figure the image size and aspect ratio and borders. I doodled on paper starting with the 3:4 ratio of the 4.5 x 6 cm negative. Not surprisingly 3x4 inches works nicely with fat borders. These...

Probably the biggest hassle of printing on fiber-based paper is how to flatten a print. I went through this conundrum a number of years ago and settled on something that works for me. I started with an  8x10 version and then made a 12x16 version . This method was adopted by at least one commercial outfit Cahute who is doing portraits  (though I get flat prints in about a day not two). Cahute also uses two sheets of acrylic with the print clamped between them after drying for storage until they are mounted. This is a nice extra as despite the best efforts the differential absorption of moisture between the emulsion and the paper back means there is a tendency for the print to slightly curl over time. Without this technique I have not had a problem mounting the prints however. As for drying time I find that it usually takes an all day session before I have one print I am happy with. If I expect to have to dry more than one I make more setups like this. They are relativel...

Last June I described a method of drying fiber prints using some simple and cheap Plexiglas or Perspex parts. The drawback is that they must be sized for the print. I modestly started then with 8x10 prints and had 4 sets of the dryers fabricated. They use a simple clamping method using bulldog clips. It was quite successful and I have used them many times since on my 8x10 FB prints. At the time I promised to extend this to 12x16" which is the largest print size my darkroom is set up for. One reader commented about some problems they had with a similar approach. Interesting method, Tried something similar with wooden blocks and bolts and wingnuts. 12 x 16 sometimes sheared off the edges of I started with a print that was too wet. Curious to know how you fare.  (Update: I have added 16x20 to my repertoire now successfully .) So I went back to the same manufacturer with an order that was a directly scaled up version of my 8x10 version. Below are the dimensions I used. The...

Its been some time since I have done some FB prints in 12x16" size. I like bigger print sizes but with FB there is always the drying and flattening problem. I wrote an article about a solution for 8x10" prints which I use regularly and like the results. I scaled this up not too long ago for 12x16" and my initial trial resulted in some damage to the paper in the corner. This mimicked a comment made by a reader when he had tried to scale up a similar solution. Though the damage and distortion was limited it did discourage me. I let the problem roll around in my head until I decided to do more prints. I had an unopened box of Ilford MGIV FB Classic and I wanted to try it. I decided I could reduce the paper tension by clamping the edges with less force. This worked flawlessly. Flat prints with no damage. I will give a complete report in a later post. For this I chose some photos my brother took while we were on a backpacking trip in the Maze district in Canyonlands in Ut...