PREPARATION OF TINTED SENSITIVE PAPERS.
NO. 3.—ANOTHER WAY OF OBTAINING VIOLET TONES.
In paper No. 2 directions were given for making violet tones in prints by sensitizing prepared photographic paper with nitrate of uranium, and developing the image with a chloride-of-gold solution. The French have a process of making violet tints much softer in tone than these, and which resemble delicate engravings. It is some trouble to prepare the paper, and a beginner would perhaps not be successful the first time trying, but the prints are so beautiful that it is worth while to learn how to make them.
Take a sheet of best photographic paper—Rives is very good—and coat it with the following solution: Hydrochlorate of ammonia, 1 oz.; rock candy, 1 oz.; distilled water, 20 oz. Dissolve the candy in the water, which may be slightly warmed if necessary, then add the chlorate of ammonia. Dip a piece of blue litmus paper in this solution, and if it turns it red add a few drops of ammonia water till it does not turn the litmus paper. Put the solution into a large flat tray, and float the paper on it for five minutes; drain, and hang up to dry. After the paper is dry, sensitize it with a solution made of 1½ oz. of nitrate of silver and 10 oz. of distilled water. Float the salted paper on this bath for five minutes, and then dry. As soon as the paper is dried it is ready for printing. This is a printing-out paper, and the prints should be made as deep as for aristo or albumen paper.
Place the prints in a dish of soft water, to which has been added a few drops of ammonia water. Leave them in only a minute, and wash at once in several changes of clear water. The toning solution is made with Sel d'Or, 7½ grs., distilled water, 15 oz., hydrochloric acid (pure), 1 dr. As soon as the prints have washed sufficiently place them one at a time face up in this solution, and tone till the prints have a deep purple tone in the shadows and a creamy white in the high lights. Wash well, and place in a fixing bath composed of 3 oz. of hypo and 16 oz. of water. Leave in this bath for half an hour, till the purple tones have faded somewhat; wash well in running water, and place them in a dish of clean water, and leave them for twenty-four hours. On taking them from the water they must be coated with albumen in order to avoid the dull appearance which the print would have if dried in the usual way.
Have a solution of equal parts of albumen and water, and as soon as the prints are taken from the water blot off the moisture with a piece of fine white blotting-paper, and brush the surface of the print with the mixture of albumen and water, using a flat camel's-hair brush. Pin them to dry on a flat board placed in an upright position. The reason why prints which are not squeegeed on to glass or a ferrotype plate should be dried in a horizontal or upright position is because, if they are dried flat, drops of moisture are apt to settle on the face of the print, and either cause distortion—that is, the print does not dry evenly—or the water leaves spots on the face of the print.
Any one who has seen some of the imported French prints in violet tones knows how exquisite they are, and while the process is some trouble, and the paper needs careful handling, after one has prepared two or three kinds of sensitive paper by more simple methods he will find this comparatively easy, and will be delighted with the result.
Sir Knight Ray Mead, Winona, Wisconsin, asks for a good formula for a developer to use with films. The following will be found to give excellent negatives: Solution No. 1. Water, 10 oz.; sulphite of soda, 2 oz.; eikonogen, 165 grs.; hydroquinon, 80 grs. Add enough water to make the solution up to 16 oz. Solution No. 2. Water, 10 oz.; carbonate of potassium, 1 oz.; sodium carbonate, 1 oz.; and enough more water to make the solution up to 16 oz. For developing take 1 oz. of No. 1, 1 oz. of No. 2, and 4 oz. of water.