Re: Re: carbon-digest V2 #135

Eric,

The only time I have had problems with unsharp prints is when I have
printed the negative upside down -- especially with a diffused light source
such as a bank of Black Light tubes. There has been a few times when I
have made a good looking print -- until I quickly notice a very noticable
softness in the print -- then realize that I had loaded the neg upside down
in the contact printing frame (instead of emulsion to emulsion). Usually
happens in the early hours of the morning after a long night.

I have not yet been able to figure out how a pigment could cause an print
to be unsharp. Perhaps if the pigment consisted of fine reflective
particles, one might get flaring within the gelatin?

I have made some beautiful grainless 8x10 and 11x14 carbon prints using
Sumi Ink. Then my next bottle (same brand, etc as the first one) gave me
nothing but grainy prints -- but as you said, an interesting look,...a very
fine even grain. Definitely different than silver grains. But not exactly
what I want in my prints.

I bought a tube of Burnt Sienna (Graham) watercolor, basically a natural
iron oxide. I will try it with my next batch of tissue. Perhaps a half
gram with 5 grams of lampblack watercolor. Just to warm the prints up a
little. Burnt Sienna is in the highest catagory for lightfastness, and I
know that it is used in gum printing, so hopefully it will be compatable
with carbon printing.

vaughn

>I kept that print. The more I look at it, the more I think I like the
>grain effect. It's just too blurry for me. If I could get it to look
>sharper, but with the grain effect, it would be a nice tool to have in the
>toolbox. Some images would be very appropriate for it.
>
>Eric.
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Received on Fri Dec 30 20:54:14 2005