01.29.07
MAKING KALLITYPES
by Aaron Boot
The following is how I go about making digital negatives and processing kallitypes. Ever since I’ve started doing alternative processes I’ve fallen in love with them. Once you get the hang of it they can be a lot of fun and there is so much room for going crazy with experimentation. Also, you don’t need a darkroom. You can do all of this in incandescent lighting.
MAKING A DIGITAL NEGATIVE:
First of all, go to this web site www.alternativephotography.com. There you will find out how I learned to make a digital negative. You will find a curve to download and then you will see a color ratio that you can use over this curve. Using the color ratio consists of clicking on the foreground square and using the color picker to change the colors. When I make kallitypes I always use 50-red 100-green and 0-blue which, according to this site has a density range of 2.2, which has a lot of contrast. But this is what works for me, you may have to do some adjustments for your negatives as well as make the proper adjustments to your printer. Here’s the thing, you really don’t need a high end printer for this. I use a Canon i560 which only cost me 150$ and one of my prints got into an exhibition. If you have one of these printers you can email me, aaron@aaronboot.com, and I’ll give you the proper settings that have worked for me. Also, I always use Pictorico OHP transparency film . Everyone who makes digital negatives uses these, they come out of the printer looking great and they are quick drying.
Of course, you can do all of this the good old fashion way; just use a 4×5 or 8×10 negative.
“rabbit parking” 4×5 kallitype, gold toned (white stonehenge rising paper)
MAKING THE KALLITYPE:
I first got into kallitypes because after doing some research I found that, when toned with platinum/palladium, they can be almost identical to actual platinum/palladium prints only kallitypes can be done at a much more affordable price. The process is a lengthy one for an alternative processes but the final look is always worth it.
The types of papers that I have used so far are platinotype, stonehenge rising and fabriano uno . All of these particular papers work great and you will soon find your favorite in time.
SENSITIZER:
Consists of two separate stock solutions.
The first solution, solution A, is a 10% solution of silver nitrate, that is 10 grams to 100 milliliters of distilled water. I always buy this in liquid form so I don’t have to mix it as it could make your eyeballs fall out, make your fingernails pop off and cause your nose to bleed when it’s in its powdered form. It’s bad stuff both in powdered form and liquid so be very cautious. You’ve been warned.
The second solution, solution B, is 20% ferric oxalate. I would recommend getting this in powdered form as when it is in liquid form it only lasts around 6-7 months. When it’s in its powdered form it lasts for years. So plan accordingly.
Now you want to mix the solutions in equal parts. Be sure that each solution has its own dropper so the formulas never mix. You only want to mix the solutions right before you begin the kallitype process. I have a little shot glass that I use as my handy little mixing implement. After I put both solutions in the shot glass (I usually do about 7-9 drops of each for a 5×7 and 15-20 of each for 8×10. This really depends on your paper as some will be more absorbent than others). I use a separate dropper to suck up the solution and I place this right at the edge of the paper and then use either a puddle pusher or hake brush to coat the entire area. You will develop your own method as far as coating the solution, just do what comes natural.
After the coating I hang it on a wire and I allow it to dry for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes check the paper and be sure that it is entirely dry.
UV LIGHTING:
Now put the negative and coated paper in a split back frame. Before this past Christmas, when I finally received a split back frame, I always used two 1⁄4 pieces of glass which worked just as well. A split back frame just allows for complete image sharpness from the negative and allows you to check the image as it becomes exposed.
split-back frame with an 8×10 digital negative inside
After your negative and paper are set, we now have to place them under some kind of UV lighting. You could simply use the sun as your source or if you’re a night owl, or want a little more control, you could use a UV light source. I made a UV light box out of some wood we had in our garage and five 7$ UV black lights that were at our local hardware store.
my homemade “UV light-box” (obviously we’ll tip this down when we place the split-back under the lights)
I usually give it 9 minutes but I’m sure this will vary according to your papers or other factors.
DEVELOPMENT:
I almost always develop my prints in 20% sodium citrate. There are other methods but this is what I’ve been using for over a year now. I place the print in the bottom of the tray and then pour the developer over the print making sure I cover the whole image area. Start agitating and do this for 2 minutes. The developer can be reused but should be replenished. Pull it out and place it in water that is acidic, I splash some white vinegar in the water bath which works very well. If this is not done then the next step, clearing the print, will be almost impossible. It will also start to clear in the water bath making the clearing agent last longer. After you run one or two prints through the water bath, pour it out and make a new one.
CLEARING:
This is an important step. If it is not done your image will get very ugly looking yellow stains on them. What we are doing is trying to clear off all of the ferrous iron (ferric oxalate) that is left on the print. This is a 3% solution of citric acid. Agitate for at least 5 minutes, maybe more if you still notice any yellow in the highlights of your prints. I then put it in running water for 30 seconds.
TONING:
This is optional but is an important step if you want total image permanence. The ferrous iron (ferric oxalate) will eventually oxidize the silver metal (silver nitrate) and the print will weaken in color. So when we do direct toning the silver metal in the print is replaced with another metal (gold or platinum/palladium) that is resistant to the effects of ferrous iron. I’ve only used the gold toner as it is the cheaper of the toners. I use 50ml of 1% gold chloride, 50ml of 1% thiourea and 0.5g of tartaric acid mixed in with 1000ml of distilled water. I then rinse it in running water for about a minute.
FIX:
I use 50g of sodium thiosulfate, 10g of sodium carbonate and 2g of sodium sulfite in 1000ml of water. Agitate for 4 minutes and I then rinse it for another minute.
FINAL WASH:
This takes about an hour. You can shorten the amount of final wash time by placing the print in a 1% solution of sodium sulfite and then the final wash will only be 20 minutes.
“a back alley” dig-neg kallitype, gold toned (cream stonehenge rising paper)
Just remember, don’t let any of this threaten you. Have fun with it and please, screw up. I don’t want to hear how perfect you did on your first try, I never did it well on the first go round and neither should anyone else. It is a lot easier to just do it than it is to agonize over, believe me.