[sanking]

Hi Sandy,

I am very much interested in your carbon workshop. I just wanted to know what will be covered in the workshop, i.e. are we going to make our own tissues? Also, is there any prerequisite (I know it is not a college class...) for learning this medium? I am relatively new to historical processes in general.

I was planning to attend APIS this year, but now I would like to go to Montana for your workshop. I will need to decide one over the other...

Warmly,
tsuyoshi

First, I regret that you have to choose between APIS and the worshop in Montana. Both would be enriching experiences for a newcomer to historical processes.

The only pre-requisite for the workshop in Montana is that you come ready to learn, and that you be prepared to work.

The carbon workshop will cover the following.

1. How to make your own carbon tissue. Although there is currently a source for commercial carbon tissue (Bostick and Sullivan) my belief is that a person who really wants to take full advantage of the carbon process should want to learn to make his/her own tissue. The ability to do so expands the range of print colors as well as surface qualities as regards relief effect.

2. Sensitizing the tissue with dichromate, using both the tray method of immersion (potassium dichromate) and the spirit method of brushing on (ammonium dichromate).

3. Preparing the negative for exposure and exposing using UV light source.

4. How to transfer the exposed tissue to a final support.

5. Developing the image in warm water.

6. Final finishing of the image. Drying, retouching, etc.

There will also be some discussion of how to optimize our negatives for carbon printing, using both in-camera and digital types. However, the focus in this effort will be practical to give immediate results since the workshop should focus on carbon printing itself, and not sensitometry or Photoshop manipulation. I will of course provide a list of the things that people should bring to the workshop, and to a certain degree those who can bring suitable negatives will have a leg up on the learning process.

Sandy