Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889Various
History
Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The sepia and black hot bath processes are much alike in the general
treatment. There are, however, some special precautions to be observed
with the sepia paper, the chief being to protect it from any but the
faintest rays of light; the prints, unlike the black ones, may be
affected by light when in the acid bath. A special solution must be
added to the developer to keep the lights pure. Over-exposure cannot
be corrected by using a cooler bath, as is the case with the black
prints, and the paper does not remain good so long.
The paper for the black prints by the hot bath process is washed with
a mixture of potassic platinous chloride and ferric oxalate, the
proportion being about sixty grains of the platinum salt to one ounce
of the iron solution. It will not keep good longer than twenty minutes
or so, and must be applied to the paper directly after mixing. The
ferric oxalate in the paper is reduced by the action of light to
ferrous oxalate, which forms the faint visible image; this, when the
paper is floated on the oxalate of potash bath, is capable of reducing
the platinum salt in contact with it into metallic platinum; but the
ferric salt, which remains unaltered, has no action on the platinum
salt, leaving these parts, which represent the high lights of the
print, untouched. The ferric oxalate is removed by the acid baths
which follow the development. A good temperature for development is
150 deg. Fahr., and when using this so much detail should not be apparent
as when printing for the cold bath process, in which all the detail
desired should be very faintly visible. There are, however, many
methods of exposing the paper and developing it, and no fixed rule can
be made, but the development must in every case be suited to the
exposure or the result will be a failure. For instance, the paper may
be printed until all detail is visible, but a very much cooler
development must be used, say 80 deg. or 90 deg.; on the other hand, a
slightly short exposure may be given, and a temperature of 180 deg. to
200 deg. used. 150 deg. should be taken as the normal temperature, and kept to
until some experience has been gained, as employing all temperatures
will lead to confusion, and nothing will be learned. Some negatives
require a special treatment, and both printing and development must be
altered, while for a very dense negative the paper may be left out in
a dampish room for some time. It will then print with less contrast
and more half tone. A thin negative is better printed by the cold bath
process, but negatives should be good and brilliant for platinotype
printing. Any one taking up platinotype and getting only weak prints
would do well to look to his negatives instead of blaming the paper,
as the high lights should be fairly dense, and the deep shadows nearly
clear glass.
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