[pure-silver] Re: Ever Ferrotype?
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 10:00:09 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Sinclair" <photo1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:23 AM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Ever Ferrotype?
On 21-May-08, at 3:36 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
In the past ferrotyped prints were associated with
photofinished snapshots and commercial or publicity
pictures, especially those for reproduction. Most of the
old style heated dryers had a polished chrome drum so
that when prints were dried with the emulsion side
against the drum they came out with a glossy surface.
Prints could be dried with the surface facing the belt
for matte surface prints. Generally prints of the sort
mentioned above were made with the idea that the
consumer wanted the highest contrast and sharpness
possible so the glossy surface was chosen.
When 'working', I put many thousands of sheets of "F" onto
the canvas of a Pako
drier... to be followed by a 'slip' though the steam on a
rather noisy print straightner.
In my early days, I assisted my mentor roll piles of
prints onto sheets of waxed plate glass
to let dry overnight.. and one had to be careful on
foot-placement when entering the room
the next morning... un-flattened ferrotyped prints have a
bit of a 'bounce' to them.
I still have a cardboard and brown-paper wrapped package
of six (I think) chromed
brass (again, I 'think') virgin ferrotype plates standing
up against the wall in my basement.
Ken
Good ferrotype tins are hard to find these days. I
tried glass plates but could never get the wax right. If you
don't prepare glass properly the prints will stick and you
can't get them off without destroying them. The old books
talk about polishing the glass with "french chalk", a
variety of coarse talc, followed by waxing with a wax
composed of bee's wax in a solvent.
I know what you mean about the prints, they pop off the
plates when dry.
One difference between ferrotyped fiber and RC glossy
is in the blacks. RC glossy tends to have a slightly hazy
quality which is not so of fiber. I don't know the source of
this effect and its been reduced greatly in modern papers
but properly ferrotyped fiber prints are still better than
RC in this way.
Because the support side of the paper dries out faster
than the emulsion ferrotyped prints tend to lay flat.
A lot of the old mechanical print flatteners, common in
photofinishing shops, drew the paper over a small radius
edge, bending it toward the support side, to stretch the
emulsion and baryta layer. If the print was over dryed this
could cause the emulsion to crack or even flake right off.
I remember once having a box of publicity photos that
had surfaces like dried mud, probably from an overly hot
drum dryer.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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