MorseBlog

In previous posts I explored using expired 4x5 film emulsion as a basis for making salt prints. I reasoned that if better results were had with sized paper then it should be possible to use expired film as 'sized plastic'. This worked though it is difficult to achieve consistent results. I then extended this to expired photographic plates and achieved some success there. The next 'frontier' is to apply the same techniques to expired paper. Preparing the Paper Again I took a few full sheets of ORWO black and white paper and fixed it for 5 minutes in rapid fixer.  Then I washed for 10 minutes as one would a developed print. The point of all this is to remove all the silver from the emulsion. I then dried the paper thoroughly. Salting the Paper Next I immersed the paper in salt solution for about 10 minutes. Previous work with film found that insufficient time in the salt solution levels the result insensitive as the salt has not fully been absorbed into the gelat

Glass Plates In a past post I explored salt prints on expired 4x5 film. I thought this technique should apply to old glass plates. I had experimented in the past with glass plates in the darkroom to various success. I had some old Air Ministry plates from the Second World War which were fogged nearly to blackness. These would be good candidates for experimentation. Air Ministry Plates Box Clearing the Plates My first attempt resulted in a lot of learning :). I soaked the plates in fixer for about 5 minutes until all of the milky emulsion turned clear. I then washed and scrubbed the green anti halation dye from the back of the plates. I then set them out to dry. Salting the Plate My first attempt at this was to wet the plate thoroughly with my 2% salt solution with no citric acid. More reading indicated perhaps sodium citrate but not citric acid. I did this with a small piece of sponge giving what I though was ample time for the salt to soak into the emulsion. I then dried

Always interested in trying something new I decided to try salt printing the predecessor to black and white film photography. I did the usual perusal on the web A Dash of Salt - Alternative Photography   St Paul's Photography-You Tube How to make salt prints – the video - Alternative Photography  And many other articles a Google away. Basically salt (kosher or sea salt as we shall see later) and silver nitrate. Citric acid is helpful. While reading about traditional paper-based prints one sees an emphasis on using sized paper. Now sized paper typically means a gelatin (or other material like arrowroot) coating. The sizing allows the silver image to sit on the top of the paper fibers rather than in them. This is seen as producing a sharper image. Some however prefer the un-sized paper as they like the depth of the image. In reading this it occurred to me that photographic film is really just sized plastic film. I have a few boxes of expired 4x5 film. I thought I should