Sometimes a Joy, Sometimes a Trial

  I printed this at the weekend and it was a huge pain in the bum to do!

  I went through at least 20 sheets of paper trying to get the contrast and exposure right.  I had to keep swapping frames on my negative due to dust and hair that were in the emulsion - the whole printing process was just a pain.  Sometimes printing is a joy, sometimes a trial.

  Even the toning didn't go as planned.  I wanted to try something i read in the Tim Rudman toning book that i recently acquired.  You blue tone the print to completion, rinse then put it into selenium toner.  The selenium replaces the blue in the highlights which turn a putty colour.  If you rinse again and put the print back into blue toner then the blue will shift to a bright azure blue.  Guess what...it didn't work.  The selenium stripped all the blue back off the print (apart from a slight hint of purple in the shadows).  It seems only some blue toners work well for this.

  In the end i split toned in sepia and blue to get the above final image.  I really don't know if i like it or not.  But i guess each session in the darkroom is a lesson, sometimes a hard one.

A Reasonable Excuse For Being late?

  On Thursday Jess was working the morning shift, so what with her being lazy unable to drive it fell to me to drop her off.  A quick ten minute journey and i was back home with an hour and a half to kill before i needed to leave for work.  Plenty of time to fire off a quick lith print, yes? Yes?  Well, no not quite.

  Everything was all set up from a session a few days earlier butt he print had turned out to be a dud.  I was using old Agfa paper i had won on Ebay and it had developed very unevenly (which can sometimes be pleasing but in this case wasn't).  I decided to use my ample morning time to make another print, have some breakfast, have a wash and then head off to work satisfied in the knowledge that i have had a fruitful morning.  I started the print but ten minutes in noticed a thicker, darker band running across the centre of the print.  I ditched it and exposed another sheet.  Guess how long it took to develop... 20 minutes?  Half an hour?  No... 56 minutes!  Talk about slow!  I guess next time i use this paper ill try a stronger solution.  The problem now was that i had 5 minutes before i needed to be out the door.  Right, lock the shed, leave the print under the wash, brush my teeth, no time for a shower, deodorant on, clothes changed, hair and beard combed, shoes on, tap off, print drying, out the door, in the car, on the road!  In the end i arrived at work 2 minutes earlier but it was a push.  What do we learn?  Never try and lith on Brovira paper within the space of an hour!

  Anyway, here's the print.  I like the softer lith look this paper has given (compared to Slavich Unibrom).  I haven't experimented with toning it yet so not sure how it will react. I'm sure ill be doing some toning on it soon though so i'll let you know how it goes.

Fruits

  Sometimes Ebay is a wonderful place. I tend to go through phases, winning nothing for weeks then getting 5 things at once. A few days ago I took a gamble and won an auction for what was described as "10 opened 12" x 16" packets of Agfa paper, mostly Brovira" for £12. It was a gamble because I didnt know the storage condition of the paper and didnt know if there was 1 or ten sheets in each pack.  Well the paper arrived yesterday and I must say im chuffed. I got sent around 20 packs with some Portriga and Record Rapid thrown in too! There are a few unopened packets and some smaller packs of 9.5" x 12" and 7" x 9.5" too which is great. And to top it all off there is a pack of Fotospeed Tapestry 8" x 10" paper. A bit of research and asking around led me to the discovery that this is basically the legendary Kentmere Kentona paper under Fotospeed branding! Hopefully it will be in good condition and ill be able to get some decent prints out of it. I believe most if not all of these papers lith to varying degrees so it is going to be interesting to experiment.

  Anyway, boast over! It always pays to keep an eye on Ebay. But then again, dont - more for me!!!

Introducing... Slavich Unibrom!

  During my recent order from my usual photo supply store i got a 25 sheet pack of grade 3 Slavich Unibrom.  This is currently the only true lith paper being made since Foma altered their emulsions some months ago.  Whilst the Foma papers still work in lith they no longer give true infectious development so, alas, do not count anymore... not that i'll stop using them though!

  I had seen from my internet research that Unibrom is a hard paper to tame.  Little did i know!  Normally i can get the print i want first or second try when it comes to lith.  I only just got it on my third try with this paper!  My first print went black very rapidly and my second was way too pale.  The infectious development on this paper is ridiculous!  I am used to developing times of around 20 to 45 minutes when in lith but with Unibrom i was snatching at around 5 minutes!

  The paper itself is lovely.  It has a glossy finish that isn't too in your face but gives a lovely sheen, and with it being double weight it has a nice thickness to it that is a joy to handle.

  Im looking forward to using it some more but ill definitely have to make sure i choose the right subject.  This paper gives a very graphic look, almost like a charcoal sketch that could look horrendous with the wrong negative.  It's definitely going to take some experimenting to get the best from it.