making a bleached print archival

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum and would like some advice:

I'm making a fibre based print and processing it archivally.

I then bleach the entire print in Kodak Sepia Toner Part A (the bleach).

The print is washed and hypo cleared completely.

Will it remain archival, or has limiting to process to bleach only made it non-

archival?

I like the look from this bleach image and don't want to alter it further, but I DO

want it to be archival. Is this possible? If not, is there another method?

Thanks for any help.

Greg<div></div>

Nice print. When you bleach a print, you are turning developed-out silver back into silver halide. This silver halide is unstable and needs to be fixed out. After bleaching your print, wash it well, refix it, then wash it again.

 

Since you are not toning the image, and since silver readily combines with various environmental pollutants and oxidants, you might wish to consider an after treatment such as Agfa Sistan. I was recently informed by the Agfa rep that Agfa has conducted some tests on prints treated in Sistan that demonstrate increased longevity with the use of their product. I am dubious that this means "archival," but it would certainly be better than nothing.

 

Another possibility is to fix the bleached print, wash it thoroughly, then use Kodak Gold Protective Solution GP-2. This would convert the image to silver sulfide, which is considered archival and quite stable. However, it would almost certainly alter the image tone somewhat. You could also brown tone it, which would radically alter the image tone.

I've nothing really to contribute. Ed's long history with chemicals would make his answer superior. I, like Ed, am pleased by this print. What was the manipulation that gave the dappling?

Hi Eric,

This is actually the texture of the paper. Ilford Multigrade FB Warmtone, glossy

surface. The print was then scanned on a flatbed scanner, which probably

enhanced the texture.

Greg

As you most likely have found out by now, fixing the bleached image will reduce the newly formed silver halide. That's what fixing does - it removes silver halides.

 

It looks as though you have partially bleached the print (nice pic, btw) and left it at that - part silver, part halide image.

 

For permanence, perhaps take the bleaching a bit further, though not to completion, and then use a warm sepia re-developer to render the image into a stable, light-fast compound. A thiourea/hydroxide based formula, such as Kodak's Sepia part B, or make up your own @ sodium hydroxide 10g, thiourea 10g, borax 250g, water 1000ml to start with. Varying the proportion of hydroxide to thiourea changes end tone: more hydroxide in proportion = cooler, more thiourea in proportion = warmer. Caution: thiourea is poisonous, sodium hydroxide is caustic. Excercise care in use.

 

A personal gripe, here, in the use of the word "archival" vs "permanent". The dictionary ascribes a definition of "suitable for storage" to the word "archival". There is no indication of longevity traditionally associated with it. It just means that the article will not in itself contribute to its own instability or that of other articles stored with it. It doesn't mean that the object itself is permanent, just that it is inert.

 

"Archival" has been cleverly hijacked by the spin-doctors of the producers of the myriad unproven newer printing methods (particularly digital) to imply some huge longevity factor. Of course, in a few years when the law suits start landing they will just point to the dictionary & say that they never guaranteed permanency, just suitability for storage. This will stand up in court.

 

Fred.