What color should coated Van Dyke paper be before exposure?

[will_muir]

I just ventured into my first foray of alternative photograph today.

The results were mixed, I realize I have some fine tuning to do on my

negatives. The thing is I would like to see the highlights very

close to white if possible. As they are now some approach pure white

but fall just short kind of a muddy brown color. I am wondering if

my paper was maybe fogged a little. I coated it last night and kept

it in a dark place, but when I took it out to expose it this morning

it was kind of a light green color. Is this normal or did I mess up

something?<P>

As a newbie I appreciate any help with this.<p>

Thanks,<br>

Will

[ed b.]

I suspect you are correct that your negatives need to be tweaked a bit. The green color to your Vandyke paper is normal. It is common to have some density in highlights on Vandyke. This can be cleared by the addition of 1 drop of 2% or 3% potassium dichromate to the coating solution, though even this small amount will increase your exposure time considerably. Different kinds of paper react differently, and it is also possible that you may have exposed the paper to some stray UV light.

[richard_rankin2]

Inspired by an article on Ed's web site (unblinkingeye.com) I now usually overexpose a bit, getting too much density in the highlights, then bleach the prints using a very diluted bleach from a sepia toning kit (potassium ferricyanide is the main ingredient I believe). I can get very nice white highlights like this on a bright white paper, but you need to be careful and vigilant while bleaching. I've used Rising Gallery and Rising Drawing Bristol papers like this and have had very good results. But visit the Van Dyke article on Ed's site for more info and inspiration.

 

Cheers,

Richard