New Printing to Fiber

[patricia de roeck]

Instead of mucking about with test strips, try using a whole sheet of the size you're working with as the test strip, this way you get to see the full picture of where you may need to dodge or burn along with a time-guide..not really wasteful as it gives more than it takes...also you must use the same paper to test with as you're intending to print with..too many variables involved otherwise. Re flattening fibre paper...buy a couple of glazed, totally smooth floor tiles, size depending on what's the largest size you'll be printing on..glue a handle into the rough size of one of the tiles...wait til the prints are absolutely, totally dry, place tile glossy side up, the place a sheet of very high quality artists blotting paper on tile, place print face up or down, doesn't matter, place another sheet of blotting paper on top of print and finally, place the second tile, glossy side down, on top..leave for a couple of days, life off top tile with handle on and you'll have prints that will be prermanently flat ...best of all the cost just a few bucks. I press 3 or 4 prints at a time, using 500mm x 500mm tiles, nice and heavy.
Oh, and welcome to the world of fibre printing..its magical and very satisfying.
Trisha

[brucemuir]

What I do to flatten prints is take an empty box from the paper
nest the bottom half (smaller of the 2 halves of box) inside the top
when dry, insert prints between the 2 box pieces
put some encyclopedias (showing my age?) on top for weight

sorta like a 3 piece sheet film box idea kinda

[artonpaper]

Wow have you gotten a lot advice here. I have my students develop Ilford MG FB for 3 minutes. We use two fixers, 1 minute each at paper strength. Important not to over fix or use exhausted fixer. The rest of your plan sounds good, except that I insist my students test every negative, every time. Things change too much. I keep emphasizing not to rush. I have them put 1/3 sheet of paper over the most important area in the image and give three or four of those pieces different exposures and develop them all at once. I seldom have them change the f-stop since most enlarging lenses perform best 2 stops down, some one stop. I tell them to start with a #2 filter unless I say otherwise. Judge the density first then the contrast. Then think about dodging and burning. BTW I love Berrger paper when I can find it, and Foma is really nice too, but that's all a matter of taste. And one more thing, have fun.

[RalphLambrecht]

Silvering-out on the surface, building small mirror-like patches.

[brucemuir]

Thanks Ralph.

[RalphLambrecht]

Instead of mucking about with test strips, try using a whole sheet of the size you're working with as the test strip, this way you get to see the full picture of where you may need to dodge or burn along with a time-guide..not really wasteful as it gives more than it takes...also you must use the same paper to test with as you're intending to print with..too many variables involved otherwise. ...

Not a bad suggestion. Expanding on this idea, some printers use a darkroom meter (or experience) and print a whole sheet as close to the proper exposure as possible. Then, they make two more exposures, one over and one underexposed by a stop. From these three prints, they make an educated guess, where to dodge and burn and for how much.

What looks wasteful at first ends up to be a very efficient way of printing after gaining some experience with this system.