Final Surfaces for Carbon Printing

Vaughn,

Actually the appearance of raised relief will be much greater with
photographic papers (matte and very smooth glossy surfaces) than with
textured water color papers.

However, even with photographic papers there is considerable
difference in the final appearance of the image among different
papers that have the same surface description. It seems to have
something to do with the thickness of the gelatin emulsion of the
paper. With some papers the carbon relief appears to "sink into" the
gelatin sizing (emulsion) of the paper, the result being a complete
loss of the dimensional quality that gives the appearance of raised
relief. A paper that comes to mind that is very unsatisfactory for
this reason is Agfa Brovira glossy papers. Carbon prints developed on
this paper (and many other thick emulsion silver papers) are
virtually indistinguishable from silver prints.

In other cases, and I find this true of most matte surface papers,
the image appears to rest on top of the gelatin emulsion and the
result is a nice dimensional effect. Arista Classic matte surface is
a good example of a paper that enhances dimensional effect.

I use watercolor papers for most of my work these days but for the
really dramatic appearance of raised relief it is hard to beat fixed
out photographic papers. And, BTW, if you plan to use the paper for
single transfer, I recommend use of a hardening fixer. This tends to
minimize the tendency of the carbon image to "sink into" the gelatin
emulsion of the photograhic paper.

Sandy King

>
>Hello Witho!
>
>My first carbon print was a solid mass of black goop. My second one had a
>faint black outline with no image in the middle. I figured that if my third
>attempt was somewhere in between those first two attempts, I'd be sitting
>pretty.
>Fortunately it was, and I've taken off from there.
>
>I do not use any alcohol in my mix. Like Sandy, I let it sit in 100F (39C)
>water until the bubbles have a chance to work their way out of the
>gelatin -- though I usually give it about 3 or 4+ hours to do so. I also
>pour the
>gelatin out through a doubled up stocking. I have very little problem with
>bubbles (maybe a bubble in every sixth tissue or so -- and they become my
>test tissues.
>
>Best of luck to you!
>
>PS I have only used fixed out glossy fibre-based photo paper as a final
>support, so I am not familiar with the effects of surface texture on the
>look of the print. But I think I have heard that rougher textured paper can
>give one a little more raised relief...though I do not know why this would
>be true (if it is).
>
>vaughn
>
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Received on Sun Oct 22 08:43:31 2000