Notes and Queries, Number 234, April 22, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
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Notes and Queries, Number 234, April 22, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
3rd. Having these two bottles ready, when I wish to prepare negatives, I
take about 200 grammes of the solution No. 1. of ceroleine and alcohol,
with which I mix 20 grammes of the solution No. 2.; I filter the mixture
with care, to avoid the crystals which are not dissolved, which always soil
the paper; and in a porcelain tray I make a bath, into which I lay to soak
for {383} about a quarter of an hour the papers selected and cut, five or
six at a time, till the liquor is exhausted. Taken out, hung up by the
corner, and dried, these papers, which have taken a uniform rosy tint, are
shut up free from dust, and kept dry. With regard to the sensitizing by
nitrate of silver, the bringing out of the image under the action of gallic
acid, and fixing the proof by hyposulphite of soda, I follow the usual
methods, most frequently that of Mr. Le Gray.
I add only, if I have any dissolved, 1 or 2 grammes of camphorated spirits
to 1 litre of the solution of gallic acid.
Allow me, Sir, to say a few words on the great advantages I have always
remarked in preparing my negatives by this method.
All those who use papers waxed by Mr. Le Gray's process, know how many, how
tedious, and how difficult are the operations before the sensitizing by
nitrate of silver. They know too how much care is necessary to obtain
papers uniformly prepared and without spots, in the midst of such long
operations, in which there are so many opportunities for accidents. In
fact, one must be always upon one's guard against the impurities of the wax
obtained from the shop; against the dust during the impregnation of the
paper; and, while using the iron, against the over-heating of the latter,
and against the bad quality of the paper used to blot.
Photographers know also how much wax they lose by this process, and how
much it costs for the quantities of paper necessary to dry it properly.
They know likewise how difficult and tedious it is to soak a waxed paper
which has been previously in a watery solution. On the contrary, by the
method I have described, the iodizing and the waxing is done by one single,
simple, and rapid process; the saturation is, as may be conceived, very
uniform, and very complete, thanks to the power of penetration possessed by
the alcohol; and that marbled appearance of the ordinary waxed proofs,
which is so annoying, cannot be produced by this method, thanks to the
character of the ceroleine: this body is, in fact, of a remarkable
elasticity.
The solution of ceroleine in the alcohol is more easy to prepare, and
comparatively costs little; and the remains of stearine and of myricine can
either be sold again, or, in any case, may be used to wax fixed proofs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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