Instead of compounding the preparation with gum arabic and the coloring matter, the albumen is simply clarified by beating the whites of eggs to a froth, etc., and the paper is coated by floating for one minute, then hung up to dry in a place free from dust. [pg 84]
If the reader has any objection for albumenizing his own paper, he can use the albumen paper found in the market for the printing-out silver process generally employed by photographers.
The paper is sensitized from the back with the potassium bichromate bath by floating or by brushing. When dry, it is exposed as usual, but for a shorter period than when the preparation contains the India ink or other coloring matters which impede the action of light.
The progress of the impression is followed by viewing, from time to time, the albumenized side of the paper. When the design is visible, well defined and brownish, the proof, being removed from the printing frame, is rubbed with very finely powdered, or, better, levigated graphite, and, this done, immersed in cold water for from fifteen to twenty minutes, when by gently rubbing it under a jet of water with a soft rag, or with a sponge imbued with water, the albumen is washed off from the parts not acted on, leaving the design on a perfectly white ground.
If instead of graphite, or any dry color insoluble in water, lithographic ink, much thinned with turpentine oil, be applied on the print in a light coating which permits one to see the design under it, and if, then, the print be soaked in water and afterwards developed as just directed, an image in greasy ink is obtained. And, furthermore, by replacing the printing by transfer ink, one readily obtains a transfer ready for the stone or a zinc plate to be etched in the ordinary manner.
As usual there are two causes of failures in these processes, viz., under and over-exposures. In the former case the image is partly washed off; in the latter the ground cannot be cleared. The reasons are obvious.
Mr. de Saint Florent gives the following processes:[26] A sheet of albumenized or gelatinized paper is sensitized from the verso on a solution of potassium bichromate, dried in the dark and exposed under a positive cliché. After insolation, the proof is washed in water, to which are added few drops [pg 85] of ammonia, then inked all over with an ink consisting of 100 parts of liquid India ink, 7 parts of sulphuric acid and 3 parts of caustic potassa, and dried in a horizontal position. When quite dry, the proof is placed in water, and after an immersion of about ten minutes, rubbed with a soft brush: the image little by little appears, and if the time of exposure be right, it is soon entirely cleared, and, then, if not enough vigorous, it may be inked again. The gloss of the image is removed by means of a solution of caustic potassa at 10 per 100, and the proof finally washed with care.
If in lieu of albumen paper, one employs paper prepared with a thin coating of gelatine, and dissolves the not acted on gelatine in warm water, a very fine positive image is obtained by means of acidified inks which will fix themselves on the bare paper.
Positive impressions from positive clichés can also be obtained in operating in the following manner: On its removal from the printing frame the proof is washed, sponged between sheets of blotting paper, then covered with not acidified India ink mixed with potassium bichromate, and, when dry, exposed from the verso to the action of light. This done the image is cleared with a somewhat hard brush.