PhotoHistory

From: THE PRACTICAL PRINTER
A COMPLETE MANUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING

By Charles W Hearn, 1874

PORCELAIN PRINTING

CAUSES OF FAILURES IN PORCELAIN PRINTING

MANIPULATION

Proper manipulation is the great secret of success in photography, and without it we cannot hope to succeed.

What is it that lies at the foundation of successful manipulation? It is care! and as we are proportionally careful in manipulating, so shall our success be.

The beginner is very apt, unless he is continually on his guard, to get careless in his manipulation, and in hopes to benefit such a one, I will here give a brief notice, wherein the careful man succeeds far better than a careless one.

I have known a careless toner, when toning a porcelain, to drop a couple of drops or so of the chloride of gold solution into the dish where the porcelain was toning, and instead of placing it in a corner of the dish away from any part of the plate, what worse thing could he do than to drop it in the middle of the dish, where, before he could stop it toning more rapidly at that place, by repeated shaking of the dish, it had toned a place full an inch in diameter before it had got so mixed with the rest of the solution, that it would not tone so rapidly, and the bright(?) toner would have a chance to shake the contents of his dish well? But it was too late; the toning of the porcelain print needs to be carried no further.

A careful man would have taken the porcelain print out of the dish before he added the gold, and when it was well mixed, he would have placed it back again.

A careless man would not have taken measures to prevent dust from settling on his plate either during the albumenizing, collodionizing, or the varnishing of the porcelain plate, which a careful one would certainly have done, and can he hope that his results would have been as fine as his competitors?

Such is a little of the vast difference between a careful and a careless manipulator, and still the latter will continue to say, and often really to believe, that the reason why Mr. ___ does better work than what he does, is on account of some secret formulas, &c., &c.

Reader, you and I know better.

THE PLATES

It is sometimes a most difficult thing to obtain good plates, on account of the unevenness of the glass, it often being so wavy as to render it useless for good work.

Then again the plates sometimes have a rough surface, and are so frail that you are continually expecting them to break.

When the photographer does not have any glass on hand, except this poor quality, he is obliged to use that, until he can obtain some better. I use the poor glass up in printing the beautiful imitation porcelain, viz., “Lamson’s Photo. Porcelain.”*

* I do not wish my readers to think that the above is an advertisement for the sale of the “Photo. Porcelain,” for that is not so.

CLEANING OF THE PLATES

There will be no difficulty at all in getting the plates thoroughly cleaned, if the advice is followed strictly out which has been given.

ALBUMENIZING

The film peeling off during the subsequent operations of the plate after it is printed, is due to the albumen solution being too thin, or the plate not being wholly covered by the albumen during the albumenizing. Roughen the edges of the plates before albumenizing, by scraping them together, and flow with thick albumen.

Dirty plates are caused, either by using plates before they are thoroughly clean, or by dirt in the albumen solution caused by imperfect nitration, or by dust settling on them before they had dried, all of which will cause plates to be more or less dirty.

COLLODIO-CHLORIDE

This is a very delicate collodion, and it should always be made and kept in the dark-room.

If the prints are blue and slaty in color, and you are sure that it is not caused by overfuming, doubtless it is caused by the collodion, and in that case, it is because there is not enough citric acid in the solution, for this is what gives the tone to the printing porcelain.

If the collodion prints flat, the chloride of silver in it is too weak, and you should make up another batch, containing a grain or so more of silver to each ounce of solution than what there may have been in the cast-away collodion.

Chloride of calcium in the proportion of 3.75 minims of the calcium solution (see Solution C, above), is added to every grain of nitrate of silver there may have been placed in the collodion.

The beginner must remember that a minim is the same as an ordinary size drop, and in a solution of nitrate of silver 480 grains, and pure water 480 minims (one ounce), the silver is one grain strong to every minim of solution.

For the purpose of measuring out drops there is in the market a tiny graduate, which holds just one drachm. This graduate has the scale marked in minims, and thus if we wished to measure out 60 drops of a solution, all that we would have to do, is to fill the graduate up to the place marked 60 minims (which is one drachm), and besides being more sure in obtaining the exact quantity we wished, it is not near so tedious as it would be to drop the required number one by one from the bottle.

Suppose we were to make up a bottle of collodio(n)-chloride which should just contain four ounces of plain collodion, and we were to add 32 drops of the silver solution named above. There would then be 32 grains of silver in the 4 ounces of plain collodion, which by the way is equal to 8 grains of nitrate of silver to each separate ounce of collodion. Now when we are about to add the chloride of calcium solution to the rest of it, we should add 3.75 minims to every grain of silver there was added to the collodion, which in this case was 32 grains, and 3.75 minims X 32 grains = 120 minims, which is one-quarter of an ounce.

As a rule add of the citric acid, in the same quantity as you do the chloride of calcium, and the proportion would then be the same, providing the solutions are each 32 grains to the ounce of 95 percent alcohol.

If you were to make up a batch of six ounces of collodion, and as in the above case you would wish to make it 8 grains strong of silver to the ounce of collodion, you would then fill up the tiny graduate to the place which should indicate 48 drops.

In adding the chloride of calcium and the citric acid to the collodion, you should add of both 3.75 minims x 48 grains, which is 180 minims.

The apprentice will readily see by the perusal of the above, that he can make up a rule for the successful making of the collodio-chloride, providing in the case of the chloride and the citric acid, he were to make up a stock solution of each of these in the proportion, as has been before said, of 32 grains to the ounce of alcohol.

Thick collodion is caused by having used plain collodion which contained too much cotton, or by having left for a time the bottle of collodio-chloride uncorked.

Dirty collodion is caused by not having the bottle clean in which it was made, and then again by the use of dirty solutions, which have been used in the making of it. The chloride of calcium solution, if made in a small quantity, cannot be decanted, and will often have to be filtered before use. The dirt in the collodio-chloride solution rises to the top, and by pouring off the top of it, you can obtain clean collodion for use whenever you need it, although it had best be poured off immediately before you want it to use.

Yellow collodion is caused by age and heat, and occurs far more quickly during the heat of summer than what it does in the winter. This occurs more readily in collodion which is highly sensitized.

It would be a good plan to make up differently sensitized batches of collodion, each of which should be plainly labeled as to the exact number of grains there is to each ounce of solution at the time of making it, so that when you are about to print a harsh or a flat negative, you can flow your plate with that collodion which is best fit for that particular negative, and the results will be better.

Yellowness of the film after drying is caused either by the plate being subjected to intense heat during drying, or by exposure to the light before toning.

PRINTING

Double features are caused by the moving of the negative during printing; blurred prints by imperfect contact between the plate and negative; scratches by carelessness; harsh shadows by the negative not being “doctored” before printing as it ought to be: besides many other things which are called failures in this department.

WASHING

Stains and scratches are caused by accidents (?) during the washing.

TONING

Refusing to Tone. — This is caused by there not being enough gold in the solution; or the solution being too acid through neglect of placing sufficient bicarbonate of soda in it; and if this refusing to tone is accompanied by considerable bleaching, then the solution is surely acid, or it is not thoroughly ripe before it is used.

Uneven Toning. — This has a very bad look, on account of there being a variety of hues, stains, &c., often abounding in the print. This is caused by careless manipulation, and occurs more in the case of the beginner while “toning by hand” than in any other way.

FIXING

Insufficient fixing will cause the plates to discolor quite rapidly after they are finished.

Sometimes when a porcelain print is placed in the fixing bath, it will immediately turn a very disagreeable-looking tone, and stay that tone in spite of your efforts towards bringing it back to its proper color. There are several reasons for this: first, the collodion may be too new; secondly, the hypo solution may be old; thirdly, the soda solution may be acid; and fourthly, the collodion may be too old: all of which will give the same result.

If the collodion is either too new or old, it is certain to show it in the fixing bath, in the former case turning green in color, and in the latter, an ugly yellow tinge will be plainly visible to the fixed print. As to the hypo solution, never fix a plate in a bath that has ever had a single plate fixed in it especially if the bath is more than a day old and do not use a bath of hypo which is ice-cold, and just made up, but have it as warm as common rain-water is in the summer when pumped from the cistern, and allow the bath to be an hour or so old before use, as better results are obtained. Try it.

Keep the hypo bath always in the dark, more especially so after any plates have been fixed in it.

FINAL WASHING

Insufficient washing will cause the plate to turn yellow in a short time after it is dried, and the picture will gradually bleach and fade, and within a year’s time, the tone will be most disagreeable.

If the porcelain changes color during this washing, then the collodion is too new, and sometimes the water is impure, and to determine as to whether the latter is the cause, use a little distilled water for the first washing.

FADING OF THE PORCELAINS

This is, in the majority of cases, due to the porcelain plate itself, and is owing to the substance which is used in the bleaching of the coloring matter in the plate being left in the plate, and which thus affects the print, destroying it in many cases as completely as it would be destroyed if the hypo was not well and thoroughly washed from it.

It is for this reason that some photographers will never make porcelains for their customers, without first telling them that they will not warrant them to last longer than a given specified time.

There are good plates, however, as well as poor ones, and I have very often known porcelains to keep for two to three years in good condition, and look then as though they were good for full as many more.

The fading is not wholly in the plate, however, for it is often in the fixing and final washing of it that they sometimes fade, on account of poor manipulation, besides various local causes which are impossible to mention here, as there are different causes in every gallery. Always do your work as well as possible, and in ninety cases out of a hundred, the porcelain will keep in excellent condition for many years.