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Robert
my grammar was not clear, yes of course there is no collodion on the print, I make salt prints from wet-plate collodion negatives myself, so I should have been more precise.
How would you describe the difference between a waxed print and an albumen print?
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I am interested in this "waxed
salt print" process. Are you
talking about a salt print with
wax applied to the surface?
Can you elaborate, or point
me in the direction of an online
description of the process?
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Sanders,
Yes, a salt print with applied wax to surface. The wax is gently applied to the surface of the print with a cloth and rubbed in carefully.
I only have texts about waxing prints in books I have. Online, you can look at salt prints that are waxed at Mark Osterman's site http://www.collodion.org/Sleep.html, by his wife Frances, as I posted earlier. A typical wax is bees wax mixed with lavender oil. I don't believe that salt prints are inferior to albumen prints in image quality, others may disagree! A useful book is any good artists book on encaustics, there is also a 19th century book on silver printing I have which is also online http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/...lly/chap1.html
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Having seen France's work (as well as Mark's) I can say that they are very good. Mark and France do salt prints, albumen prints and POP prints. Mark teaches all 3 in his workshops at GEH.
PE
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I've been fishing around for an alternate
process for printing my portraits. I usually
print my negatives with a 3 or 3 1/2 filter
onto Agfa MCC 111, or on Grade 4 Emaks,
using an Aristo cold light head, so I gather
they aren't dense enough for POP, and by
extension probably not dense enough for
albumen papers. Would a waxed salt paper
work for my negatives, do you suppose?
(Apologies for hijacking the thread.)
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Sanders,
I cannot say if this process would work. But, it is a very easy process to test. Some people think one has to have a very contrasty neg. for salt prints, I don't entirely agree, it depends on the subject, etc. I don't intensify my negs. either, which some people believe is necessary for wet-plate negs.
What size are your negs? Small negs. don't work so well for alt. processes, 5x4, 5x7, etc. and up is best.
So, I suggest you try making a salt print, it is fun!
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Anton, First let me say that salts prints can be very beautiful. And I would never advocate one process over another because it is all subjective. I also work in wet plate collodion and mostly print in albumen so I can only tell you what I see when comparing a salt print side by side with an albumen print. They are really two quite different methods. I also print with pt/pd using ULF film negatives. The reason I mention pt/pd is because both pt/pd and salt prints are processes that are actually absorbed into the fibers of the paper. Now an albumen print is more on the surface because the albumen acts as a substrate for the silver nitrate. This is why when you compare most salt prints to albumen prints the salt print will seem somewhat dull and won't appear to hold as much fine detail as the albumen. And that is fine if that is the look your after and a well made salt print holds loads of detail. I'm just giving you my personal experience when doing a comparison. Now waxing a salt print will help with the luminance but it won't increase detail and it looks totally different than albumen because it is a coating over the image as compared to a substrate that the image is formed on. With that said, I think both salt and albumen prints are both beautiful processes and I love them both. Personally I prefer pt/pd over most other process and it is also limited in what it will resolve, but that doesn't make it any less appealing. I would choose it over a silver gel almost everytime and the silver print would probably hold much more detail. Like I said its all subjective.
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Thats cool Robert, thank you for this info. I agree, it is subjective. I have not worked with plt/pld processes at all, and would probably love that too. I understand the difference between salt and albumen prints, its good to hear your thoughts. 
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POP from enlarging paper?
 Originally Posted by Kirk Keyes  Has anyone tried soaking regular paper with citric or acetic acid or the sodium salts of these acids? .... I've recently tried putting Ilford Galerie through a silver nitrate solution, and it certainly takes it well towards POP behaviour. Galerie gives a weak image with printing out anyway, but this is blueish. After the silver nitrate treatment the colour is POP purple, and much stronger. I used a 2% solution, soaked for 5 minutes, rinsed briefly then air dried. Has anyone else tried this?
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Originally Posted by Martin Reed I've recently tried putting Ilford Galerie through a silver nitrate solution, and it certainly takes it well towards POP behaviour. Galerie gives a weak image with printing out anyway, but this is blueish. After the silver nitrate treatment the colour is POP purple, and much stronger. I used a 2% solution, soaked for 5 minutes, rinsed briefly then air dried. Has anyone else tried this? No. but it certainly sounds interesting Martin.
Have you tried gold toning it? If so what was the colour like?
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