Introduction

William Henry Fox Talbot invented the positive/negative process of photography. One day, while using a Camera obscura and a Camera Lucida to help him draw, he thought "on the immutable beauty of the pictures of nature's painting which the glass lens of the camera throws on the paper in its focus...fairy pictures, creations of a moment and destined as rapidly to fade away. It was during these thoughts that the idea occurred to me- how charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably and remain fixed upon the paper."

Talbot experimented with photogenic drawings (now called photograms): by coating drawing paper with salt solution and after it dried, adding a solution of silver nitrate, and by placing a leaf, fern, or a piece of lace, on the paper's surface and exposing it to the sun, he obtained an image.

Photogenic Drawing of a Fern Leaf, c.1835-1840

Talbot later made the earliest photographic negative on paper in the late summer of 1835. Finally, he was led to the development of the latent negative photographic image. When he discovered that paper treated with a substratum of silver iodide and washed in gallic acid in conjunction with silver nitrate and acetic acid would bring out the latent (negative) image. On 23 September 1840, like magic, Talbot watched a picture gradually appearing on a blank sheet of paper. This process was called the Calotype.

The processes of Fox Talbot inspired me to make photographs on handmade paper with Liquid Light emulsion. Liquid Light is a silver-halide emulsion created exclusively for darkroom coating on many materials and surfaces. It is virtually the same emulsion found on ordinary photographic paper, but in liquid form and is applied to the intended surface by the artist. The process of applying and exposing Liquid Light onto my own paper echoes Talbot's experience of creating his own light sensitive paper and making images.

The purpose of this experiment is to familiarize myself with Liquid Light emulsion while comparing the three methods of exposure that Talbot used (paper negatives, film negatives, and photograms). In addition to figuring out the best method of exposure for Liquid Light photographs on handmade paper, this experiment will compare the results of tea dying with 3 different teas (at two different concentrations for each tea).

I hypothesize that this method of photography will render less detail than conventional photography. I am even unsure that my
class notes will transfer to the handmade paper in a readable fashion. I also hypothesize that the Earl Grey tea will produce a bolder stain than the Green Tea or Apple Cinnamon Tea.

Background

Some of the variables and controls for this experiment are:

Variables:

• Exposure method (paper negatives, film negatives, and photograms)
• Tea dye (3 different teas)
• Concentration of tea (one bath full concentration and one half concentrated)

Controls:

• Type of paper (each sheet is made from 110mL of the same pulp)
• Application of Liquid Light (all paper was coated with a sponge)
• Exposure (each exposure method used the same exposure time for each print)
• Steeping time of tea
• Ratio of tea to water (each uses only 2 bags per 1000mL water)
• All bathing times (this is for developer, fixer, and tea bath)

The materials need for this experiment include:

Papermaking:

• White 100% cotton pulp
• Pelons and felts
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Sizing
• Small metal screen
• Deckle Box (set up near a sink)
• 1 Bucket or empty trash can
• Hydraulic press for drying
• At least 2 slabs of wood
• Drying board

Photography:

• Darkroom with an Amber Safelight
• Liquid Light Emulsion
• Index cards
• Handmade paper
• Clean sheet of glass (approx. 8"x10")
• Measuring cup (1000mL)
• Sponge or brush
• 5 treys for developing (a size of 8"x10" works well)
• 3 pairs of tongs
• UV apparatus (enlargers work perfectly)
• #00 filter and #5 filter (optional)
• Rubber gloves
• Paper developer (Ilford PQ Universal) recommended developer is Kodak Dektol
• Fixer (Ilford Hypam, rapid fixer) recommended fixer is Kodak Fixer, a non-rapid fixer made from powder
• Print washer/rinser (if not available, devise a way to rinse prints for 20 minutes)
• Class notes
• 4"x5" negatives
• objects from nature such as flowers, blades of grass, leaves and even lace.

Tea Dying:

• 6 treys for tea baths (same treys as above)
• Measuring cup (1000 mL)
• Teapot for boiling water
• 2 tea bags of each tea: Earl Grey, Apple Cinnamon Hibiscus, and Green
• Photographs to be dyed
• Huge books for flattening

Procedure

Papermaking:

1. Either make or obtain a sufficient amount of pulp to make 29 sheets of paper with 110mL of pulp per sheet.
2. Fill the deckle box with water to the halfway point of the rectangular plexiglas container (making sure all components are placed where they should be).
3. Put 110mL of pulp into the deckle box and then, with the dropper, put 5 drops of sizing in as well. Stir contents with the small metal screen.
4. Making sure there is a bucket under the drainage pipe of the deckle box, turn the red knob so that all the water in the deckle box drains. When the water is no longer above the deckle and you hear a flushing sound, turn the red knob in the opposite direction to stop draining.
5. Unbuckle the sides of the deckle box and lift off the top portion. Remove the deckle with the newly formed sheet of paper. On a felt, place a pelon. Wet the pelon by spraying it. Couch the sheet of paper onto the pelon by carefully yet forcefully placing the deckle paper down onto the pelon with the side closest to you first. Pull the deckle off the pelon in the same fashion, with the side closest you first. This should be done in one swooping motion. If the paper rips or tears, you may want to trash it and start again.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until you have a stack of 29 sheets, each between two pelons, sandwiched between two felts. Apply pressure.
7. Place the stack of wet paper into the Hydraulic press, making sure it is between two slabs of wood.
8. Remove paper stack from the press and place between new, dry pelons and felts, in the same way as removed. The sheets of paper should be strong enough to transfer with your hands.
9. Wait at least 24 hours for the paper to sufficiently dry. Place between huge books if you think they need flattening.

Deckle box about to be drained. Stack of Paper.

Photography:

Applying Liquid Light to surface: In the darkroom with only the Amber Safelight on. Do NOT have white lights turned on.

1. At room temperature, Liquid Light emulsion is a solid gel. Before use, plunge the bottle into a container of hot water (130 deg.F or higher) until the emulsion turns liquid. This happens at about 115 deg.F or 46 deg.C. (A microwave oven can be used if care is taken not to overheat the emulsion. Maximum time: 20 to 30 seconds on "high".) Do not shake the bottle, as bubbles may form. The emulsion is uniform throughout, so it is not necessary to melt the entire contents if only a portion is being used. Use containers of glass, plastic, enamel or stainless steel; plain steel, brass, copper, aluminum and other metals will react with the silver compounds in the emulsion to form black specks. One of the treys for developing will probably suffice for step 2.
2. Pour a small amount (maybe an ounce or two) of Liquid Light into a container. Place the tube back in the warm water so that it will still be liquid when you go to pour more emulsion into the container when needed.
3. Apply Liquid Light with a brush, sponge, paint applicator, paint roller, spray, or by flowing on and draining off the emulsion. If spraying, be sure the spray gun has no brass parts. Dilute the emulsion with warm water if needed. Apply two coats of emulsion to each sheet of paper. At the same time, coat a few pieces of paper or index cards to serve as test strips for correct exposure. Wait a few minutes before applying the second coat.

Handmade Paper coated with Liquid Light but not developed.

Exposure: Still in the Darkroom with only the Amber Safelight turned on.

1. First you want to make a test strip to find the best exposure time for the image you wish to create. Do this in the light apparatus, an enlarger works great for this (make sure it is set at f-11, the setting which controls the strength of light which passes through the enlarger lens). Use an emulsion coated index card as the test strip.
2. Place the paper negative, film negative, or natural objects over the index card or handmade paper in the way you wish them to show up in the final print. Put a clean sheet of glass over this to keep everything flat and create the maximum contact detail possible.
3. Cover 75% of the index card with a thick piece of cardboard or small flat box, creating a horizontal line across the card. If working with filters, put the #00 filter in the enlarger's filter trey. Expose the uncovered portion for 10 seconds. When the light stops after 10 seconds, uncover another 25% of the index card. Expose the uncovered 50% of the index card for another 10 seconds. Repeat until the whole card is exposed. If you are not using filters, skip step 4 and develop the test strip with the instructions below.
4. (filter option only) Repeat step 3 with the #5 filter, only instead of making horizontal lines, make vertical lines. Develop your test strip following the instructions below.
5. When you have completed development of your test strip, look at it to see which section looks the best. The exposure time for that section is the one you want to use for your prints. Then put the test strip on the drying rack. Keep in mind that the darker values had the longer exposure (40 sec. being the maximum and 10 sec. the minimum). If you think the best would be in between two sections, use an exposure that would be in the middle of the two. If you used filters, Look to see which combination of vertical with horizontal sections looks the best. You will have two exposures, one with the #00 filter and the other with the #5 filter.
6. Expose the rest of your prints using step 2 and the best exposure you determined from the test strip. Develop each print using the guidelines outlined below and then place them on the drying rack.

Chemical Preparation: Prepare chemicals in a large sink in the darkroom

1. Put on rubber gloves as these chemicals are slightly hazardous.
2. Kodak Dektol developer and Kodak non-rapid powder fixer are recommended from the makers of Liquid Light. Used in this experiment were Ilford PQ Universal developer and Ilford Hypam rapid fixer due to availability.
3. In the 1000mL measuring cup, pour 100mL of developer and 900 mL water for a 1:9 ratio of developer to water. If you are using the recommended developer, the ratio may be different, follow the instructions on the label. Pour this into the first of four trays in a row.
4. Rinse out the measuring cup and pour 1000mL of water into the second tray to serve as a rinse.
5. Also in the measuring cup, pour 200mL of fixer and 800mL water for a 1:4 ratio of fixer to water. Again, if you are using the recommended fixer, this is not the ratio to use; that fixer makes a working solution that does not need diluting.
6. Rinse out the measuring cup and pour 1000mL of water into the fourth tray to serve as a final rinse.

Development Process: Also in Darkroom with only the Safelight turned on.

1. Place the print/test strip in the bath of developer, noting the time. Agitate by gently moving the trey for the first 50 seconds (only if development lasts longer than 50 sec.). See how long it takes for the image to appear. When you are satisfied with the image that appears, use one pair of tongs to remove the print from the developer and place it into the next trey to rinse for approx. 10 seconds. Always use this pair of tongs for removing prints from the developer only, use another pair to put the print in the fixer. Note the time the print was in the developer and use that time for all the prints, this time will probably be in the range of 30-50 seconds.
2. Remove the print from the second trey and place it into the fixer for 10 minutes, making sure to use a new pair of tongs. The fixer serves to harden the emulsion so that it will adhere to the paper surface and it also removes all the unused silver-halides. When the print is sufficiently fixed, place it into the final trey for 30 seconds with the last pair of tongs.
3. Make sure the print washer is turned on and full of running water. Remove the print from the final trey and carry it to the the print washer in an empty trey (none of the 4 currently in use). Place it into the print washer and allow it to rinse for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the print from the washer, dab some water off with a piece of cloth or squeegee it off and place it onto the drying rack.
5. Repeat this process for all prints.

Tea Dying:

1. Boil 1000mL of water in a tea pot and pour into a container with 2 tea bags.
2. Let the tea steep for 2 minutes without shaking or agitating.
3. Pour 500mL into one trey and dilute the other 500mL of tea with 500mL of water. Pour the diluted tea into another trey. These will serve as baths to dye the prints.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each tea used.
5. Divide the prints up into 6 groups, one group for each tea bath. Leave 2-3 prints un-dyed so that you may compare results later.
6. Dye each print one by one, allowing the print to soak for only 30 seconds.
7. Place each print on a drying rack.
8. Flatten between huge books when dry.

Colorimeter Readings:

1. Make sure the Colorimeter is turned on and ready to obtain L*a*b* readings. When you do readings of emulsion areas, aim for large areas of a lighter grey-tone. Consistently look for tones in the same value.
2. Get a reading of a white un-dyed area first. This can be found on the back of one of the un-dyed prints.
3. Next get a reading of a dyed area without emulsion for each tea,. This can be found on the back of each dyed print.
4. Finally, obtain a reading of each print. Remember to consistently look for areas of a lighter grey-tone.
5. Draw conclusions based on the colorimeter results about how the teas effected prints.

Observations and Data

Making Handmade Paper:

I used pulp that was made in Shea Leatherman and Andrew Crone. This pulp is made from three white 100% cotton T-shirts and was beaten for 60 minutes.

Each sheet of paper was made with 110mL of pulp. All sheets also received 5 drops of sizing.

Observations of each sheet (when dried): Thickness of sheet; Texture; Condition

I have 23 clean sheets without holes or rips.

Applying Liquid Light Emulsion:

Method: I took a sponge and used a corner to soak up the liquid emulsion and applied it with many strokes in the same direction. After a few minutes, I applied a second coat to each sheet, using strokes perpendicular to the first coat.

Because I used a sponge, the Liquid Light bubbled up in some areas. Since the emulsion is white and the paper is white, it was difficult at times to see where I had not gone over the paper. Because of this, some sheets received an uneven coat, leaving areas of the paper uncovered with emulsion. These areas are not light sensitive and will not transfer an image. I purposely left areas on a few sheets blank to see how this would affect the final image. After developing each print, I was able to tell what kind of coat each sheet received.

Observations: Emulsion Coat Application:

Sheets in this chart are in order of use/exposure.

2 sheets of paper disappeared; I have no clue where they went. These were sheets 12 and 15.

Exposure Methods:

All prints were developed with the same process as outlined above (with exception of the first test strips).

Class Notes as a Paper Negative:

I first tried to make a test strip (with filters) using the emulsion covered index cards. This is how I found out that prints needed to be in the fixer for a good 10 minutes. When I developed my test strip, it became dark with no variations within 30 seconds. I then rinsed for 10 seconds and placed the test strip into the fixer for 3 minutes. As I put the strip into the final trey and began to agitate, the emulsion flaked off and the strip proved ineffective. The same happened for the second index card.

I then decided to research suggested fixing times for Liquid Light prints and found that 10 minutes is the recommended time. Before attempting to print on handmade paper, I decided to try my paper negatives on traditional photography paper to make a test strip and see if the method would create images on regular paper. The method worked beautifully on my Agfa Multi-contrast fine grained matt B&W fiber-based paper. I also found that the optimal exposure time was 15seconds per filter.

test strip (10 second intervals)

Above are pictures of the test strip and two examples of prints I made on traditional photographic paper using the exposure of 15 seconds per filter.

When I tried this on my handmade paper I did not get desirable results.

Sheet 6, Example of Class Notes Failure

4"x5" Film Negative Contact Sheets:

4"x5" Contact Print on Traditional Photographic Paper.

Sheet 2, Failed Attempt at Film Negative Printing

In this portion of the experiment I learned that the safelight does indeed expose the Liquid Light surface, it just does so really slowly.

Photograms:

Each photogram received an exposure of 20 seconds per filter. This method worked beautifully with Liquid Light emulsion on handmade paper.

Left: Photogram on traditional paper Right: Photogram on handmade paper

Tea Dyes:

I performed the tea dyes according to the guidelines above in "Procedure."

At first glance, there appears to be no difference between the dyed prints and the non-dyed prints. However, when prints of different dyes are placed next to each other, we begin to see subtle differences in color.

Left: Earl Grey Middle: Apple Cinnamon Tea Right: Green Tea

Colorimeter Results: L*a*b*

L* is the coordinate for "lightness," a* is the coordinate for "red-green" and b* is the coordinate for "yellow-blue."

No result* - After I had dyed each print and they were on the drying rack, I spilt some hot tea that I was drinking onto some of the prints. This caused the emulsion to melt and drip off the print. I decided not to do colorimeter readings of the ruined prints, which were mostly the Green Tea prints.

This table presents the average values for each tea. The L* coordinate was omitted here because it does not affect the hue of the tea dye.

The dyed prints used in this table had the full concentration dye. I figured that since all the dyes were faint, I would draw better conclusions with the fully concentrated dyes.

Conclusions

Originally, this experiment assumed that all three exposure types would work well on handmade paper. The idea was to center the experiment around the tea dyes. The purpose was to determine which tea at which concentration would be best suited to dye the prints. The prints were to be judged on overall contrast and appearance and the colorimeter would measure how the tea affected the print.

The tea dyes were too faint to draw strong conclusions about, although I am able to say that I was right in my hypothesis in thinking that the Earl Grey would make the boldest stain. The L* value was the lowest of them all, at 87.10.

The color break down of each tea dye is as follows. Keep in mind that the a* and b* results have a very small variance, meaning that the colors are very similar.

The artist can use these teas knowing that the Earl Grey will provide a bold brown which is mostly yellow with a tinge of green. The Apple Cinnamon Tea will provide a brown which is mostly red with a tinge bit of yellow. Also, the Green Tea will provide a brown which is mostly green with a slight bit of yellow.

Due to difficulties in the exposure methods (paper negatives and film negatives), I had to alter the purpose of the experiment to deal with finding the best method of exposure for Liquid Light on handmade paper. Obviously the best choice is the photogram method because the other two wouldn't produce any results. I believe the photogram method was even enhanced by the sponge strokes, adding a more dynamic texture to the surface which the silhouette would normally lack.

If I were to do this experiment again, I would use a Liquid Light emulsion bath to coat the paper so that there would be no sponge stroke marks. I believe that is why I did not get any results using the paper or film negatives. Those processes require a surface that can translate a broad range of tonal shifts in a small area while the photogram process is black and white with little to no tonal differences.

I would also use a bit less sizing in the paper so that the prints could absorb more tea. I would add about 3 drops instead of 5 so that the developing process doesn't destroy the paper.

Finally, I would use the developer and fixer that are recommended by the makers of Liquid Light. Then I would be able to compare the results with this experiment's results to find out what works the absolute best.

Links

William Henry Fox Talbot -This guy rocks my world.

Liquid Light emulsion -Everything you want to know.

For any help finding developing times go to Digital Truth

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Patricia Crider, whose previous project using Liquid Light on handmade paper influenced my decision to do something similar. A special thanks to Chris Bucklow, who gave me the idea of using my class notes as paper negatives and for pointing out the similar work of Fox Talbot. Also, thanks to my oober-cute puppies at home whom I miss alot.