#chrysotype

[entropieogchaos]

The Love of my Life, Easter 2022, Handmade Chrysotype Photo Print on Hahnemuehle Platinum Rag, 5"x7", 100% analog process direct from film negative. Shot on Ilford HP5+ and developed in D-23. Camera was a Burke & James 5x7 View Camera with Zeiss 300mm f/8 APO process lens. ©2022-23, MC - All Rights Reserved.

Chrysotype is a unique photo printing process that uses gold for the image. It is an iron-based siderotype process similar to Platinum printing. This print was made using the formula invented by Richard Puckett, which is quite easy to master, and I highly recommend trying it. This one came out with a very slight purple hue that I think is beautiful. Colors in Chrysotype can vary dramatically depending on the formula and how it is processed. It tends mostly towards cool tones.

[recovecosyrefrotes]

“Pega y sombrea lento

y un sordo sol amargo 

rueda al fondo. 

Entre cosas oscuras 

entre líquenes 

entre formas babosas y vibrantes 

un golpe y un susurro 

un golpe 

y un susurro 

que se apaga 

se borra.”

                                                                                                 Idea Vilariño

Ph: Gustavo Castilla

[windermeresimblr]

Adventures in edits, to entertain myself while I wait for my building save to load.

Top: Edited through the following tutorial: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/26921-get-the-digitally-painted-look/

Middle: No edits

Bottom: Same tutorial as the first, but I colored the “metallize” portion with a golden yellow in order to imitate (I’ve forgotten the name--a daguerrotype that’s printed on gold instead of silver, which was described as having a nicer tone--it’s not an aurotype or a chrysotype...). 

[mornec]

Write, just right

I have been asked several times about my nocturnal writings, this random collection of thoughts expressed each evening before bedtime. Tonight, I’ll share the scoop and clue you in about what’s happening.

(more…)

[richardpuckett]

A Farewell to Shura Cherry

I am preparing to Ebay my shura cherry Nagaoka 4x5, all my lenses for the lovely object, and my grafmatics and cut film holders, boxes of fresh film. Most of my adult life I have owned a 4x5 (or 6.5x8.5) view camera; I used medium format gear primarily for weddings and portraits. The view camera was for me. But I have found that I have no interest in landscapes, architecture or any of the usual and common subjects for which the view camera, with its tilts, swings, shifts and rising/falling, is well suited. Pope wrote, "The proper study of man is man." I cannot get that out of my mind as I meditate on photographic subjects. People are what people want to see above all else in prints. (In 2 different movies, Fred Astaire played a photographer and he delivered the same line in both: "You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees.") People and flowers. I have not exposed a 4x5 negative in months; I only use a Hasselblad anymore. Happily, my Ellwood enlarger easily handles 2.25x2.25 negatives. And x-ray duplicating film is only available in a maximum size of 14x17 inches. That's just over a 7 diameter enlargement from medium format -- and with Agfa Copex Rapid (developed in Caffenol LC -- 6g monohydr sodium carb, 1g vitamin C, 8 grams regular roast instant coffee all in 500ml h2o) enlargements that size look as good as 4x5... So I will sell all my 4x5 gear and, perhaps, simplify my life even further by acquiring a Rolleiflex tlr. The 2.8GX was only discontinued in 1994 and instances in excellent condition are readily available today. Just now, most of my mental energy is flowing into my next documentary, a feature length film about time, aging, love; included will be my mother who is 85 and my step father who is a retired (27 years retired, now) CIA field agent. Besides being quite affable, his work in the 1960s had him poking into every nook and cranny of a Nevada government site designated Area 51... Of course, the Texas Chrysotype process will figure prominently... Gold and Platinum (external image -- you may have to click to load it on this page):

[talbottomann-blog]

mike ware  kinza khan

On 28 Mar 2019, at 16:48, kinza khan <kinza.khan0223@gmail.com> wrote: Thank you so much!, much appreciated .I guess I’ll just ask the questions then ?

1) what inspired you to combine being a chemist and being a photographer ?

At first chemistry and photography were not -for me- activities that were “combined” - indeed quite the contrary. As a professional scientist, I was trained to a daily life of precise, convergent, analytical thought; but as a human I also sought a creative outlet of an artistic kind for divergent holistic thought. I was an indifferent water-colorist or sketcher or oil painter, but I did discover that expressive image-making by photography could provide me with this creative artistic satisfaction.At first, using the commercial silver-gelatin b&w medium, I took little interest in the chemistry: although it was easy for me to do, it was too much like work!But for the follow-on, see answer 4).I suggest for a fuller account you read my essay ‘A Bridge for Two Cultures’ on my website:

https://www.mikeware.co.uk/mikeware/Bridge_Cultures.html

which attempts to find a union between my scientific and artistic visions of the world.

2) In general do you think every photograph has to have meaning?

By “meaning” I take it you mean (!) expressive human significance. If so, my answer would be "No, by no means (!)”A photograph can be simply decorative, or documentary, or scientifically factual, without any intended meaning.But I think that photographs intended as works of art often do have intended meaning - I would not go so far as to say “must have”. "Beauty may lie in the eye of the beholder."For some idea about the way I intend meaning in my photographs, can I suggest that you find a copy of Christina Z. Anderson’s new book “Cyanotype”, (I’m sure your library must have a copy) and look at the commentaries I have written to accompany some of my images on pp. 77, 80, 107, 294, 297.

3) what printing process do you prefer and why?

The siderotype processes, i.e. those based on light-sensitive compounds of iron (usually oxalate or citrate complexes): platinotype, palladiotype, chrysotype, argentotype, argyrotype, cyanotype, etc.Because, as a chemist, I have been able to assist in the improvement of these near-obsolete and largely forgotten C19th century processes. For more details see the essay on my website:

https://www.mikeware.co.uk/mikeware/Ironic_Manifesto.html

These processes also have aesthetic qualities that I find very pleasing - see Answer 7).

4)What had gotten you started with alternative methods of photography? What compelled you do get into this field?

By pure chance, in my reading, I came across George Tice’s work in the 1970s on rediscovering the platinotype process. This seized my interest as a chemist, and I felt I could contribute something here. That was not the case with current commercial silver-gelatin photography, which had already been near-perfected by the folk in Kodak and Ilford many years ago.

5)if not photographer  or chemist what other field would you have perused and why?

Mathematics, but although competent, I was not good enough to be a creative mathematician.Reason? The search for truth.

6)opinion on digital photography ? In comparison to the various alternative methods

My current everyday practice is now a hybrid of digital and analogue. I capture my images on a small highly portable digital camera, for convenience, but I still admire and respect those who can carry a 10x8 camera around! After some manipulation in Photoshop, I can then output large negatives on an inkjet printer for contact printing in siderotype processes. I used to have to make my enlarged internegatives in the darkroom on silver-gelatin material, or with a 10x8 camera. I think that some digital photographic technologies have had an enormously liberating and empowering influence on the wider practice of alternative printing methods, which are so slow they all require a large negative for UV contact printing. The downside of digital image recording is the ephemeral nature of the original image files, the dependence on high technology, and the lack of an original negative archive.

7) is their a single asthetic that continues to inspire you?

Siderotypes are ‘plain paper’ processes; i.e. the precious metal image is embedded as nanoparticles in the surface cellulose fibres of an uncoated sheet of paper. The image therefore has the surface texture of a fine art paper - a tactile quality that invites close inspection - and can render subtle nuances of tonal gradation. Such photographs have much in common with other media for ‘works of art on paper’ - engravings, etchings, mezzotints, pencil sketches, watercolours, etc.In contrast, I find the glossy reflective surface of the silver-gelatin photographic medium quite aesthetically unappealing.

Thank you so much for your time.

You’re welcome. I’ll attach a couple of articles you might also find more explanatory, to this email.

Best wishes, 

[efashionreviews]

The Texas Chrysotype Baseline Formula: Print ONLY on Arches Aquarelle Hot Press paper IMPORTANT POINT OF CLARIFICATION: To prepare ammonium ferric ferrous oxalate, add the ascorbic acid drops to the ammonium ferric oxalate in a bottle, not in ...

[alternativephotographycom]

Chrysotype: A Contemporary Guide to Photographic Printing in Gold by Leanne McPhee

Leanne McPhee is the author of Chrysotype: A Contemporary Guide to Photographic Printing in Gold find out how Leanne McPhee came to write the book on chrysotypes.

Leanne McPhee is the author of Chrysotype: A Contemporary Guide to Photographic Printing in Gold find out how Leanne McPhee came to write the book on chrysotype. This volume is the seventh in the Routledge Alternative Process series, edited by Christina Z. Anderson and published by Routledge. Photography / Leanne McPhee, Mark Goddard Interview with Leanne McPhee Leanne McPhee, Mark Goddard…

[alternativephotographycom]

Marek Matusz

Marek Matusz photographs landscapes and nature objects. See his work.

Marek Matusz photographs landscapes and nature objects. From: Poland, lives in Houston, Texas, USA. Shows: Chrysotypes, Gum bichromates, Lumen prints, Satista print, Tri Coloured Gum bichromates, Platinum & Palladium, Ziatypes.

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”83″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”1″ thumbnail_width=”200″…

[alternativephotographycom]

Mike Ware

Mike Ware - in the galleries at AlternativePhotography.com

Dr Michael J. Ware is a chemist and photographer, known for his work in alternative photographic processes. He has invented variations of processes and refined many of them. Here he shows his cyanotypes, argyrotypes, chysotypes and more. From: Bromley, UK. Shows: Argyrotypes, chrysotypes, cyanotypes, platinum, palladium, palladiotypes. [ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”53″…

[richardpuckett]

Refining DPO Palladium-Platinum Paper

I have applied further refinements to my dry print out process: A means to preserve moisture in the paper (Pizzighelli, in the 1880s, used gelatin or gum arabic), and I am examining different means of adjusting contrast -- I have observed that after several months the paper loses contrast. I believe I have solved both problems and will be able to market a commercial DPO Pd-Pt paper with a shelf life of at least 3 months. After all my hoopla around enlarging smaller negatives onto x-ray duplicating film, I have returned fully to whole plate, 6.5"x8.5" film ,cut down from Fompan 8x10 and contact printed. Any one interested in purchasing a few hundred sheets of frozen 14"x17" x-ray duplicating film (I actually purccased a small freezer for all of my film ...)? UPCOMING: I hope to begin shooting my Master Workshop Series, for the Chrysotype Supreme, Platinum Supreme, Rhodiotype, Electrumtype, etc., etc., in a month -- once the temperatures down here in southeastern Texas (outside Corpus Christi) fall to tolerable levels for working out of doors. I have been fixing up the A frame I bought last spring, and will be placing it on the real estate market probably in January. Any one interested in purchasing a remarkable house 37 miles in from the Corpus Christi beaches, 200 yards from a lake? A quarter of an acre, a well, a septic tank, and a 640 or so square foot house with a 600 sq ft work room ... My intent is to move to Tblisi in the spring, then after a year there, to move to Spain and secure an artist visa, and generally to haunt Europe, Georgia, and India going forward -- I intend to leave the USA before internecine warfare and cannibalism erupt...

[richardpuckett]

Rhodium Notes

Rhodium prints out (when it is minded to do so) with AFFO-8:1%C -- that is when mixed at 10% strength with an equal number of drops of ammonium ferric ferrous oxalate prepared by mixing thoroughly 8 drops of 1% ascorbic acid with 10 ml of 40% ammonium ferric oxalate. ON THE RIGHT PAPER. The right paper for rhodium is strathmore bristol 500 plate, and probably Bergger cot 320 and also 90 lb Fabriano Artistico (see below). The old Arches Platine probably would have been fine, but I am so unhappy with the new Arches Platine ... what a loss of such a splendid paper!

10% Rhodium prints out with 10% gold and AFFO-8:1%C down to AFFO-3:1%C on a 1:1 drop basis for the two metals and the AFFO (eg. 6 Au, 6 Rh, 12 AFFO). Less C added to the ammonium ferric oxalate, such as AFFO-3:1%C, translates to lower contrast. Papers for rhodium-gold: 90# Fabriano Artistico (low contrast AFFO, AFFO-3:1% through AFFO-5:1%), Bergger Cot 320 (high contrast AFFO, such as 8:1% C), and maybe Arches Platine (you would need to add contrast booster such as potassium chlorate or 26% ferric oxalate -- no C added!). NOTE: contrary to my thinking yesterday, a test today showed that palladium is not useful in any way when mixed with gold AND rhodium. Contrast falls off the table. Same with platinum. The reason for this is you must use only 1%C AFFO solutions with gold and you must use only 2%C AFFO solutions with palladium and platinum. Possible combinations are: Rh-Au, Rh-Au-Ir, Rh-Pd, Rh-Pd-Ir, Rh-Pt, Rh-Pt-Ir, Rh-Pd-Pt, Rh-Pd-Pt-Ir.

10% rhodium prints out with platinum and/or palladium at 10% or their usual 20% and 15% solutions when mixed with AFFO-8:2% -- 8 drops of 2% C mixed thoroughly with 10ml of 40% ammonium ferric oxalate. Known good papers are Bergger Cot 320 and Arches Platine. Fabriano Artistico and Arnheim are not suitable. I have not tried Hahnemuhle (despite having 23 sheets of 22x30 under my bed).

Generally, as with iridium, I find the best results are obtained with a sensitizer that is 60% rhodium or less. Exception: if you test your rhodium one day and it prints out fully, then grab a big negative and go for it. You will be pleased with the results.

If you do go crazy and decide to try your luck with rhodium, take the same extreme care as with platinum and palladium to dissolve the gritty rhodium chloride in warm water at 80 to 90 degrees fahrenheit. 75 is not warm enough, I know for a fact. As when preparing platinum, Do NOT add salt or other chlorides (such as sodium chloride, potassium chloride, ammonium chloride) to the rhodium. It is not necessary; you only add salt, sodium chloride, when mixing up palladium. Gold, platinum and rhodium go into solution without any need to add sodium chloride. Last week I prepared some rhodium forgetting to warm the water (it was probably 75 degrees fahrenheit, not quite warm enough) and adding .5 gram sodium chloride to a gram of rhodium trichloride. I had to heat the mixture afterward to get it to dissolve completely, and the salt still precipitates out of solution overnight. What a nuisance!

Note: the highlights in the aurhodiotype from yesterday did not darken down enough on drying. It's too contrasty. Sunlight today was too spotty to prep and print yet another 11x14 -- next week, I'll make another one with whichever solution of AFFO tests to be best for the negative: AFFO-3:1%, AFFO-4:1%, or AFFO-5:1%. That is, add either 3 drops of 1% C solution, or 4 drops or 5 drops to 40ml of ammonium ferric oxalate. The difference between AFFO-3:1% or AFFO-4:1%, on the one hand, and AFF0-8:1% on the other hand is quite dramatic.

I'm so happy there are no more metals to play with!

[richardpuckett]

The Golden Rule

I've been trying to get set up for a repeat of my overly contrasty rh-au print of yesterday. First I tried palladium and rhodium, 1 drop of pd and 2 of rhodium. No print out (on Fabrianno Artistico). Then I tried 1 drop pd and 1 rhodium. No print out. So I switched to platinum -- 1 pt, 2 rh and after no print out, 1 pt and 1 rh. Still no print out. Some Xtian bible thumpers stopped by to evangelize me. I teased them, for I'm wicked: What if you stepped out your front door one day and the sky was a color you had never before seen? Is it the devil? Or the divine? I should've told them to F off, but the girl might be able to teach me all about the Pentecost and the working of miracles with tongues!

Anyway, I finally tried 1 drop 10% au and 2 of 10% rh. Full lovely print out. Currently a sheet of FA coated with 30 drops of rhodium and 20 of gold, mixed with 44 drops of 7:1%C AFFO, is drying in my downstairs closet. The extra rhodium and lower AFFO (as compared to yesterday) should result in lower contrast and hold the highlights in the star flowers of the hyacinth. I swear I'm going to get a decent camera. In fact, since the Swedish chucklehead who filmed a documentary about Ed Buffaloe (unblinkingeye.com), Spiffy Tumbledweed (URL? google him), Hector Hernandez (google him in Austin, Tx), and yours truly is still farting around one and a half years later, I"m going to Cabelas (yeah!!!! love cabelas!!!) and buy a Hero Pro 4 hunting video camera which is the regular one with camo finish for $50 off and shoot my own damned documentary about my processes. But that's aside. I"m waiting for the sensitizer to dry down and then I print. It'll be fine.

Question: if gold triggers the precip of rhodium, and if the various times I printed out pure rhodium before now I had just also printed gold, is it possible that only a mere whiff of gold will cause (almost) pure rhodium print out? Has it been residual gold in the brush all along? I'll try a test with 11 drops of rh and 1 of gold for a whole plate, 6.5x8.5, negative. We'll see. But first, I have to get this bad boy 11x14 printed out.

[richardpuckett]

Texas Chrysotype Accident

I prepared a sensitizer consisting of 24 drops of 10% gold chloride and 36 drops of Ammonium Ferric Ferrous Oxalate (7 drops of 1% C added to 10 ml of 40% ammonium ferric oxalate and shaken vigorously for 15 seconds). This was for an 11x14 electrumtype. I brushed the solution onto a 15x20 (inch, not millimeter) sheet of Fabriano Artistico (my new fav paper for gold!). I set it out in the sun in contact with a neg of Kary as an angel swept across the sky: her wings are the curved rib bones of a bovine, her head piece the shoulder blades of the bovine (you can see the negative as an omnitype -- au-pd-pt-rh-ir-ru -- on www.texaschrysotype.com).

Negative was the wondrous Agfa copex rapid 120 exposed in my Bronica SQ-B and developed in Caffenol L C C, low contrast caffenol. (Copex rapid is a panchromatic, not superpanchro, film comparable in quality to the defunct technical pan film -- truly 4x5 quality from 120 and I know as I generally use 4x5 instead.)

Anyway, I was er drinking uh, er, a margarita (3 oz Sauza margarita mix, 1.5 oz Espolon tequila, .5 oz Cointreau --all ice cold) and sort of lost track of time. The image printed out fully. It is gorgeous. Beautiful. Interesting thing is I used 50% MORE AFFO(7:1%C) than gold. My standard has for years now been to use 2/3 to 3/4 as much AFFO as gold, for example, 6 drops of AFFO and 8 of gold. But the quality of the image with 2 gold to 3 AFFO is vastly superior -- it is closer to platinum than to my Texas Chrysotype with the 2:3 or 3:4 AFFO to gold formula. The normal contrast print has more detail in the shadows and highlights, along with better Dmax overall, then the low contrast omnitype. I would estimate a tonal range of 12 stops. Nice accident! Fortune smiles on fools.

[richardpuckett]

Ongoing Rhodiotype Agon

Saturday, May 7 2016. I drove to the art store and bought 1 sheet of Strathmore 500 Board Bristol Vellum finish, one same with Bristol Plate finish, 1 each of Fabriano Artistico 140 gsm bright and natural hot press, and a sheet of Fabriano Artistico 300 gsm natural hot press. Also, a packet of union square rag cotton watercolor paper, smooth finish, and an aquaboard brand watercolor panel. Results of tests: slight print out on the aquaboard and the Union Square. (Everything tests fine for printing with gold, however...)

Intuition tells me it is not the paper, but the rhodium chloride solution failing. My successful print out earlier this week was almost certainly a small amount of gold and/or palladium on the brush, and was probably affected by the high relative humidity with all the thunderstorm activity this past week. The Sullivan lithium palladium print out process only works (sometimes) if you heavily hydrate the paper. All of the Ware - Sullivan processes are derived directly from Pizzighelli's print out paper of the 1880s. That failed commercially because of its inconsistency.

Think: in the fall of 2014 when I successfully printed out rhodium on Revere Platinum, the paper was 2-3 years old and the rhodium chloride solution was three months old. This week, the rhodium chloride was one week old and the paper around 4 to 6 months old. Next two attempts: (1) soak the new paper that is the same as the paper from the earlier this week's print out in water and mostly dry it. (2) soak a sheet of the paper in 2% oxalic acid (1) artificially ages and humidifies the paper in a controlled, repeatable way and (2) oxalic acid may aid in precipitation of the rhodium.

[richardpuckett]

Another PD On Satin

A better print. Contrast low. This was 15% palladium printed with ammonium ferric ferrous oxalate (7 drops 1% C) on polyester satin. Polyester satin is far more stable and long-lived than silk, silk satin, cotton, etc. Perhaps more so than flax Belgium linen or any natural fabric. Moths won't eat it, it won't yellow. It's like Pindar's gold! Cell phone camera insisted on adding some funky brown stain around the model's um lower region. Not in original. Tonight will be sizing more satin, but with new variations on the gelatin/alum approach. Tomorrow will print, including adding a drop of iridium to boost Dmax.