Sensitized, the paper must be dried as rapidly as possible. It does not keep, and should be employed the day it is prepared or the day after, keeping it well wrapped in paper.
As said above, it is exposed under a positive cliché, plans, designs, etc., drawn on tracing paper or linen. The more transparent the material, the more rapid the chemical changes. During the insolation—and it is very short—the chromic compound is reduced, the parts corresponding to the ground, that is, the transparent parts of the cliché, are discolored, while those under the design remain unaltered; the image being, therefore, faintly visible, and being formed of the chromic mixture, it is developed by the fumes of aniline in a blue black tone. Therefore, if the paper be not sufficiently exposed, the ground is colored like the image, although not as deeply, since the dye formed is proportionate to the more or less quantity of unreduced compound, and if exposed too long the image is imperfectly developed or not at all by excess.
The discoloration of the ground, which turns to a greenish hue, easily indicates when the exposure is sufficient. But, to ascertain it, the beginner should use tests as in the cyanofer process. Mr. Endemann regulates the time of exposure by partly covering a strip of the sensitive paper with a piece of the tracing material upon which the design is made, and exposing the whole until the covered part of the paper assumes the same shade as the part directly exposed to light.
To develop the print is placed in the bottom of a tray, which is then covered with a lid upon which is pinned blotting paper well imbued with an aniline and benzine mixture, or the reverse; that is, exposing the print fastened to the lid and placing the aniline on the bottom of the tray. The tray should be hermetically closed; that is a condition to obtain a fine and equal coloration. For this purpose the lid should be [pg 49] well lined with sheets of blotting paper and a weight placed over it during the operation. Large prints are necessarily developed in a fumigating box made ad hoc. The aniline solution consists of
| Aniline (commercial for red) | 8 parts |
| Benzine, rectified | 100 parts |
In place of benzine, ether U.S.P., sp. grav. 0.837, may be used.
When the proof is not over-exposed the development commences in a few minutes. The image first takes a dirty black olive color which turns blue in water, then the tone darkens to a dark-brownish tint. The time of exposure to the aniline fumes depends on the time of insolation; if short, the ground is soon tinted, and consequently the development should then be stopped; if over-exposed, the development proceeds slowly. The darkest tone is obtained by a rather full exposure which admits a long fumigation. Sometimes the image takes a green color; it suffices then to wash the proof in water rendered alkaline by a few drops of aqueous ammonia to obtain the normal color.
To somewhat improve the tone of the image and, if objectionable, to remove the chromic oxide which tinges the ground greenish, the proof should be immersed in a dilute solution of sulphuric acid 1:100, then washed twice, and finally passed in ammoniacal water 1:100.
Mr. Hermann Endemann has published, in 1866, the following process in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, pp. 189 et seq.:
The paper, which must be well sized with glue, 1:50, is sensitized with the following solution and exposed when dry, but still slightly damp: