masking material

i would like to use some sort of material for masking a negative

that will not transmit any light. that is, i want a material that

will print paper white in areas that are not cut out. it needs to be

thin enough for registring with the negative and fit in a negative

carrier. any ideas or suggestions?

If you are talking about hand cutting holes in a mask to hold back light in some areas and permitting it to pass through others, you may well run into visible edge problems. Masks are usually produced photographically.

Howard,

 

It is not clear from your post exactly what your intention is but if,

like me, you want to make a mask to provide a white border for

LF contact prints then I can help you.

 

A lot of the graphic arts materials that were in great proliferation

in the past, like ruby lith, are now as scarce as rocking horse

dung. The solution that I find works admirably is to use Rosco

primary red gel.

 

I make templates in Adobe Illustrator and cut the gel to custom fit

various formats: e.g.: 8 x 10 with rebate, 8x 10 without rebate, 5 x

10. I have also made a mask for 4 evenly spaced 4 x 5s to form

a panorama with spaces between.

 

But maybe your goal is something different.

 

WG

Howard,

 

I use "orange mask" that I but from printing supply houses to mask my

palladium prints. It is relatively thin and uts easily yet holds its shape. It is not

clear how you plan to use it, but orange mask will easily allow for registration.

 

Mike

Go to a pre-press service bureau in your area (these are places that create negatives for plate making in the printing industry) and ask them nicely for a scrap of negative material that's solid black. They throw bunches of this stuff away all the time.

I use frosted drafting paper. I don't cut pieces out as that creates more problems. I use a soft pencil and fill in areas where I don't want light to pass through. This mask goes in register with the negative, separated by thin glass (I contact print 8x10). This also works well with 4x5 in the enlarger.

you can still buy rubylith and amberlith.... We still use it on occasion for our silksreen operation and have rolls & rolls of the material and the rubylith tape too.

I mask negative borders with silver Mylar slide masking tape. It has the smoothest edge (store it in a plastic bag so fuzz doesn't stick to it). I stick it right on the neg, base side. It can be removed without hurting it. It is hard to keep a straight line, though, if you're doing something big like 8x10.