Calotype photographers have been doing this with paper negs since the dawn of Photography (Calotypes were invented in 1839). Your method is easier than many of the traditional (calotype) methods I have seen. Also you explain it very well, great video thanks for sharing.
Hi James just wanted to let you know that paraffin wax works great. My cyanotypes came out great since there was nice density in the negative. The exposure is roughly 30% longer. Thank you so much for this tutorial.
This video deserves a lot more attention. I no longer need to obsess over getting a large format ink jet printer (and all of the expensive ink that goes with it). I have access to a copy machine/printer at work that can do 11"x17" paper and so my maximum print size just took a huge leap over 8-1/2x11"! Thanks! Please feel free to share any other knowledge nuggets with us!
Thanks cheekygeek. I have had it posted over on Flickr for a while and it gets a few views a month or so over there. I guess the only tip I would add is to get some pigment ink for your printer. Generally they come with dye based ink and that doesn't block UV light as well as pigments do. I think that will give you a lower contrast print, depending on your process. Glad you found this helpful.
Thanks Stephen. You are right. There is nothing new about waxing and oiling paper negatives. I saw a number of techniques when I started contact printing, but they seemed overly elaborate and/or messy. My wife was kind enough to let me use her skillet for experimenting. I hope you can give it a try.
Thanks Theresa. Probably something like a FedEx Kinkos could do a reasonably priced 'poster' size b/w print on regular paper. Not sure if it would be photo quality or not, but that's where I would start. Sounds like a fun project. Good luck!
James this is fantastic! Thank you. I am dying to print some huge digital negative cyanotypes. I have only been able to print as large as 11x17 with this process. Any idea if there are places that print thin paper bigger? Or any ideas?
So I'm a bit confused please enlighten me :) you mention waxing for cyanotypes as well. Do you apply the wax before you apply the chemical on to paper or you apply the wax after all the cyanotype progress completely washed and dried? If so does this make the photos better? Thanks
Apologies if I wasn't clear. All I meant was that you can use this process for negatives with any "print out" process like cyanotype or salt printing or albumen, etc. I didn't mean to imply that you would wax the print itself. Having said that, there are people who apply some bees wax mixed with lavender oil to their prints to help preserve them. I have not done this so I cannot advise one way or the other.
I was thinking about contact printing. If the negative has to be made on quite thin, low quality paper then I couldn't see how there could be much separation in the shadows and highlights. I'm a bit disappointed that a curve has to be applied to the negative in the same way as using OHP film. I hoped I'd be able to dispense with that step. Sorry about the sex change: I didn't realise I was signed in on my daughter's account.
I tried this but used olive oil instead. It worked very well and I'm getting a nice feel to the prints. Try the inkjet method again , but try printing the image in the strongest red you can. I do that with transparencies and also with paper. I turn the paper image upside down and then carefully rub with the olive oil. The red absorbs UV really well. and so you can get a denser negative than printing in black. As you say, that doesn't work so well .
In fact, you can download an entire RGB color scheme. Print that, wax it and use that as a 'negative' for a UV-sensitive process like cyanotype. On your cyanotype, the highlights will correspond to the colors that block the most UV light. Then you can go back to your digital RGB panel and sample that color. Use that for printing and you will have the most UV dense negative. This will be different with different ink suppliers. i.ytimg.com/vi/sr_vL2anfXA/maxresdefault.jpg
Tha nks, I use transparencies for salt and other printing but the wax neg has always attracted me. I;ll be try git very soon. And as you say, much cheaper! The fiddling with transparencies is hard going, getting ht perish densities and tonal ranges. :-(
Do you mean contact printing two separate waxed paper negatives together? It probably would work, but I think the print time would increase, so you would want to experiment a little with your exposure times or do a strip test. The waxed paper seems to be very close in UV transmission to plastic film like Pictorico.
Oh, for display, you mean? That's an interesting idea. I think it would work. Thinner paper would probably be better, like Bienfang Graphics 360. Then you could experiment with the distance between the two papers. As the distance increased, it seems like you would get more of a misty, distant feel to the back most print. Good luck!
Srdan, I would guess that any wax would work with this method, but I haven't tried them. Parafin has a lower melting temperature, so a cooler temperature on the surface might be in order. Also, I live in So. California where it can be very hot. If I were printing 'parafin' negs outdoors on a very hot day, I might be concerned about the wax transferring to my print. These are just thoughts. If you try with parafin, please post your results.
Freya, do you mean with an enlarger or a contact print? I think it would make a very soft print from an enlarger, but contact printing should work well if you print your negative with the right curve corrections. Dan Burkholder is the definitive source on digital negatives for contact printing. I put a link to his site in the video description. Thanks for watching.
James,I have two questions: 1- What paper are you using for your negatives2-If i wanted a positive that is translucent but has the Archival quality needed for a print, What paper would you suggest then?
Annie, I just use regular old office printer paper for my negatives. I think something like Bienfang Graphics 360 might work for you. It is very thin, but I think it might be water marked, so if you are thinking of backlighting for presentation, that would be a non-starter.
You could certainly experiment with thicker papers. Regular printer paper certainly works. The curve is really an adjustment for the contrast of your technique.It is the same as adjusting the exposure/development of negatives for either scanning or printing. I have printed perfectly acceptable cyanotypes and tri-color gums without applying curves at all. Print some step wedges and see how it works with your ink, paper and printing techniques. Post your results somewhere where we can all see.
Calotype photographers have been doing this with paper negs since the dawn of Photography (Calotypes were invented in 1839). Your method is easier than many of the traditional (calotype) methods I have seen. Also you explain it very well, great video thanks for sharing.
Hi James just wanted to let you know that paraffin wax works great. My cyanotypes came out great since there was nice density in the negative. The exposure is roughly 30% longer. Thank you so much for this tutorial.
Heat/skillet/beeswax technique looks interesting, thank you for the video!
This video deserves a lot more attention. I no longer need to obsess over getting a large format ink jet printer (and all of the expensive ink that goes with it). I have access to a copy machine/printer at work that can do 11"x17" paper and so my maximum print size just took a huge leap over 8-1/2x11"! Thanks!
Please feel free to share any other knowledge nuggets with us!
cheekygeek
Thanks cheekygeek. I have had it posted over on Flickr for a while and it gets a few views a month or so over there. I guess the only tip I would add is to get some pigment ink for your printer. Generally they come with dye based ink and that doesn't block UV light as well as pigments do. I think that will give you a lower contrast print, depending on your process.
Glad you found this helpful.
Thanks for adding this information Srdan. I am glad that your prints turned out well.
Thanks Stephen. You are right. There is nothing new about waxing and oiling paper negatives. I saw a number of techniques when I started contact printing, but they seemed overly elaborate and/or messy. My wife was kind enough to let me use her skillet for experimenting. I hope you can give it a try.
Thanks for this! I've been wanting to try it for some time now.
Thanks Theresa. Probably something like a FedEx Kinkos could do a reasonably priced 'poster' size b/w print on regular paper. Not sure if it would be photo quality or not, but that's where I would start. Sounds like a fun project. Good luck!
Thank you for this video. Did you use intjet or laser print? You talked about both.
Thanks Terry. That's good information. I'll definitely give it a try.
Great video...one question. Is it possible to use paraffin wax as a substitute?
James this is fantastic! Thank you. I am dying to print some huge digital negative cyanotypes. I have only been able to print as large as 11x17 with this process. Any idea if there are places that print thin paper bigger? Or any ideas?
Newsprint, maybe? Did you ever find a solution that worked for ya?
So I'm a bit confused please enlighten me :) you mention waxing for cyanotypes as well. Do you apply the wax before you apply the chemical on to paper or you apply the wax after all the cyanotype progress completely washed and dried? If so does this make the photos better?
Thanks
Apologies if I wasn't clear. All I meant was that you can use this process for negatives with any "print out" process like cyanotype or salt printing or albumen, etc. I didn't mean to imply that you would wax the print itself. Having said that, there are people who apply some bees wax mixed with lavender oil to their prints to help preserve them. I have not done this so I cannot advise one way or the other.
I was thinking about contact printing. If the negative has to be made on quite thin, low quality paper then I couldn't see how there could be much separation in the shadows and highlights. I'm a bit disappointed that a curve has to be applied to the negative in the same way as using OHP film. I hoped I'd be able to dispense with that step. Sorry about the sex change: I didn't realise I was signed in on my daughter's account.
I tried this but used olive oil instead. It worked very well and I'm getting a nice feel to the prints. Try the inkjet method again , but try printing the image in the strongest red you can. I do that with transparencies and also with paper. I turn the paper image upside down and then carefully rub with the olive oil. The red absorbs UV really well. and so you can get a denser negative than printing in black. As you say, that doesn't work so well .
That's a great idea... I am going to give that a try this weekend!
In fact, you can download an entire RGB color scheme. Print that, wax it and use that as a 'negative' for a UV-sensitive process like cyanotype. On your cyanotype, the highlights will correspond to the colors that block the most UV light. Then you can go back to your digital RGB panel and sample that color. Use that for printing and you will have the most UV dense negative. This will be different with different ink suppliers.
i.ytimg.com/vi/sr_vL2anfXA/maxresdefault.jpg
James Harr Thank you! I'll add that to my to do list! ;)
whats a good substitute for wax paper
Tha nks, I use transparencies for salt and other printing but the wax neg has always attracted me. I;ll be try git very soon. And as you say, much cheaper! The fiddling with transparencies is hard going, getting ht perish densities and tonal ranges. :-(
The wax paper negative goes all the way back to William Henry Fox Talbot. This is definitely Old School 1835 stuff!
Yes, no reason to mess with success!
Do you think that if you layered two images you would be able to see the one in the back with this method?
Do you mean contact printing two separate waxed paper negatives together? It probably would work, but I think the print time would increase, so you would want to experiment a little with your exposure times or do a strip test. The waxed paper seems to be very close in UV transmission to plastic film like Pictorico.
Thanks! I hoping to put them together and backlight them.
Oh, for display, you mean? That's an interesting idea. I think it would work. Thinner paper would probably be better, like Bienfang Graphics 360. Then you could experiment with the distance between the two papers. As the distance increased, it seems like you would get more of a misty, distant feel to the back most print. Good luck!
Srdan, I would guess that any wax would work with this method, but I haven't tried them. Parafin has a lower melting temperature, so a cooler temperature on the surface might be in order. Also, I live in So. California where it can be very hot. If I were printing 'parafin' negs outdoors on a very hot day, I might be concerned about the wax transferring to my print. These are just thoughts. If you try with parafin, please post your results.
Freya, do you mean with an enlarger or a contact print? I think it would make a very soft print from an enlarger, but contact printing should work well if you print your negative with the right curve corrections. Dan Burkholder is the definitive source on digital negatives for contact printing. I put a link to his site in the video description. Thanks for watching.
James,I have two questions:
1- What paper are you using for your negatives2-If i wanted a positive that is translucent but has the Archival quality needed for a print, What paper would you suggest then?
Annie, I just use regular old office printer paper for my negatives. I think something like Bienfang Graphics 360 might work for you. It is very thin, but I think it might be water marked, so if you are thinking of backlighting for presentation, that would be a non-starter.
You could certainly experiment with thicker papers. Regular printer paper certainly works. The curve is really an adjustment for the contrast of your technique.It is the same as adjusting the exposure/development of negatives for either scanning or printing. I have printed perfectly acceptable cyanotypes and tri-color gums without applying curves at all. Print some step wedges and see how it works with your ink, paper and printing techniques. Post your results somewhere where we can all see.
thanks
Translucent, not transparent.