william_blunt

Thanks for removing the insulting responces.........

 

William Blunt

Ann,

If you do a google search of "cutting film" and click on "5x7 instead of 8x10" I posted a response which tells of how to cut film down taught to me by Jay Dusard. I have never had a problem cutting 8x10 to 4x10. Good lick.

William Blunt

About 75% of my work goes in the trash can in the darkroom after viewing for several days. I have a lot of "what the hell was I thinking" photos but when I get one that I can live with for a long period of time it all seems worth it and I go out and try again.

William Blunt

Ann,

You can get the brush mentioned from www.artxpress.com

Richeson watercolor wash brush. The 1" works fine for 4x5 thru 8x10 and only cost about $20.

Good printing

William Blunt

Ann,

I second the response about Dick Arentz workshops. I took a weekend workshop with Dick a couple years ago after printing pl/pd for several years, you never stop learning. There were several students with no experience with platinum printing or darkroom work at all and I believe we all learned plenty.

I would highly recommend the Richeson 9010 brush even to start with, they are not that expensive and lot less headaches.

Good luck and enjoy the adventure.

William Blunt

Nice

Be extremely careful doing platinum or palladium printing....

it's very addictive!!

Not only do reproductions fall short of quality in a platinum/palladium print but original photos in galleries and museums are usually framed behind glass or plexiglass which degrades the quality. Several years ago I visited the Platinum

Gallery in Santa Fe which had most works framed without glass or plexiglass, wonderful! Not the norm but wonderful.

Have I got a Deal for YOU!!!!

 

Let me know your address and I can help you out.

Always like to promote the platinum/palladium print.

When asked about getting inspiration to make photos Brett Weston replied..... "you just haul your ass out and get to work, inspiration comes from working"

Keith Canham uses 8x10 Fidelity holders and cuts them down to 4x10 for his cameras.

Britt,

I am not going to emboss the image. I hand coat on paper that is larger than the image so there is a lot of room for info. I have seen several prints treated this way and like the effect although you don't see it once matted.

William Blunt

Thanks to all with responses to my problem. I was really using the wrong term, printers chop, I was really looking for a hand embosser which I found thru google search once I found out what I was really looking for.Again thanks to all

Looking for a source to purchase a printers chop to emboss my

handcoated prints. These prints are from large format negs. so I

hope this falls within the rules of the forum.

Thanks

A great way to purchase photos is on ebay if you know the seller. I can highly recommend Russ Levin in Monterey, CA. Russ has sold a number of my prints and has auctions up all the time. Some of the photos are "high end" such as Brett Weston, Ansel Adams etc. but there are others that go for really low bids for what they are. Check out the back cover of B&W for info.

Of course purchasing photos straight from the photographer is best way IMHO

William Blunt

Garry,

I live in MO and use wood cameras with no problem, Canham 5x7 wood, Wisner 4x10 tech, Zone VI and old Burke and James cameras thru the years and no problems with respect to temp changes or the humidity here.

William Blunt

as for lenses and cameras I use S. K. Grimes. Great work and turnaround time,

I find if I "wet load " the tubes there is no problem, if not the developer gets kind of splochly and the dyes don't get removed from the back. I load the tubes, put them in the tray, turn out the lights , open the tubes and let them fill with water, reach in and pry the film away from the back so water gets to the back and replace the cap. Turn on the lights, roll the tubes for a presoak, turn out the lights and unscrew the tubes and place on the caps with the developer in the upright position of course, turn on the lights and develope. Sounds like a lot of extra work but it's not bad.

Wayne,

I flatten all my palladium prints in a mounting press for about a minuteor so and have had no problem. I tried lennox but it worked better as a blotting paper! Couldn't get it to work at all as Socorro. I use a Cranes 90# paper I get from Ryuijji Douglas out in Calif. It is whiter than the nat. but not as bright as the regular white version from B&S. Cot from Bergger work ok too

Good luck

Oct. 18 issue of USA Today had article about found Adams photos. The heirs of David McAlpins widow found them in attic. They are snapshots from trip Adams took with McAlpin and O'Keeffe on trip to southwest. Pictures on view at Fitchburg Art Museum in Mass. through Jan. 12

I have used Bienfang 360 translucent paper which is like tissue. I use a support paper a bit larger under the tissue for all steps from coating to washing. The papers that have too many black spots in them work fine for a support so I don't throw them out. I have used the tissue to print 8x10 negs with success.

William Blunt

Is it just me or do papers for platinum printing lately have a lot

of junk in them, black spots and other trash. Just went thru 25

sheets of Berger cot and 24 had black spots and junk in them. About

90% of my Cranes Platinotype was as bad.

William Blunt

Been there, done that. Purchased a canham 5x7 and it was well made

and was beautiful to look at. Not a thing wrong with the camera but

we just didn't get along. The camera did all it was supposed to but

I sold at a loss after a year and went back to my old Burke & James

5x7, an old ugly beast I paid $75 for about 15 years ago. I learned

to live with the limitations of the B&J. I did purchase a Wisner 4x5

and later a conversion kit to 4x10 and am happy with that

combination but as long as the B&J holds together I plan on using it

up. One never knows until you use a piece of equiptment for awhile

if it is the right choice, which is a shame with the cost of this

stuff. Good luck

William Blunt

This is not really a question but an observation. While using my jumbo harrison film tent (which I think is a wonderful product) I noticed a lot of white specks inside the tent after use. The openings are so tight they scrape dead skin off my arms when I pull my arms out. Haven't had any problems with it ending up on film but a possibility of that happening. Guess I need to start using a skin conditioner on my arms. Popeye would have a heck of a time with the film tent!

William ,

The density range is the difference between where you want detail in

your shadows and detail in highlights. When you extend development

to get more contrast you will probably need to give less exposure to

your film because you will raise the lower densities and get too

dense a negative. I find rating the film higher as easy way to take

care of this.

Hope this helps

William

HI Dan,

Good post. I just went through my "collection" and found out I have

many more than I thought I had. Some of my favorites include an 8x10

silver contact by Cole Weston of his father at Point Lobos, an 11x14

silver contact by Howard Bond, platinum prints by Ryuijie, Tillman

Crane, and Robert Almeida. I also have prints by Edward Gillum, Fred

Picker, David Vestal, Henry Gilpin, Charles Farmer, Roger Fremier,

Oliver Schuchard and my latest one is a wonderful 4x5 contact print

by Jay Dusard. Going to workshops is a great way to get good deals on

fine original prints plus the Ansel Adams Yosemite prints are still

reasonable. Of all the prints I have I still believe my own prints

are the most important ones, that may be a bit bias.

Best wishes for a new year

William Blunt