Rickor
Hello,
I’d like to have a go at lithography in the darkroom.
After doing some research, the Moersch Easy Lith Set is often recommended.
It mentions a developer ‘A’ and ‘B’, which you’re supposed to mix 1:1.
What does this mean?
Has anyone ever done lith with Baryt Forte Polywarmtone?
Thanks.
Regards, Reiko
cfb_de
Hi Reiko,
Why not just ask Wolfgang Moersch directly? He’s not afraid of the phone, provides excellent service and – unless he’s busy with his wife and the locals or asleep – is available almost round the clock.
You can find his number on his own website :-)
Oh, and by the way: I do have experience with PW14. It’s quite nice, as requested. However, I used DIY methods, not ready-made chemicals. So that won’t really be of much use to you.
Best regards,
Franz
Hobbyknipser
Hi Reiko,
I really like Lith with Polywarmtone, although I
bought the paper about 3–4 years ago and I’ve heard that
it’s been changed slightly since then – but I’m not entirely sure
about that either...
Otherwise, Easy Lith is quite easy to use.
1:1 simply means that you take the same amount of each of the two concentrates, A and B
(e.g. 20ml each), mix them together
and perform dilution with water (e.g. 1.6 litres).
The mixing ratios given for the developer solution
always refer to the total amount of concentrates A+B, so in the above
example you would have mixed 40ml of concentrate with 1600ml of water,
which corresponds to a 1:40 solution. In my opinion,
1:40 is a pretty good starting point. That already gives you
some really nice results, and you can experiment further from there.
The whole subject is an extremely broad field anyway, as you’ll
soon realise. You can really only work out the
combination of exposure time, dilution,
and development time that works for you by trial and error. And once you’ve found that combination,
you’ll realise it doesn’t work for the next picture either,
as the developer itself is constantly changing (being used up).
:lol:
But go for it – it’s really brilliant when it finally
works out properly and you’ve managed to pull the picture out of the bath
quickly enough :D
And a few more tips:
- Contrast and the overall effect of the image are very clearly influenced by the exposure time.
So, especially at the start, feel free to experiment a lot with a negative
to get a feel for the whole process.
- With the very long exposure times that are often required (several minutes),
make sure the enlarger is firmly fixed in place. Over such a long
period, you might find yourself shifting about a bit, so the
thing needs to be rock-solid to ensure nothing becomes out of focus.
- Don’t despair during development; it takes a very long time, especially with higher
dilutions, before you can see anything. Patience! :D
And then it all happens very quickly – as soon as the first traces appear,
look very closely and make sure the black
doesn’t completely overwhelm the image.... When you think it’s right, quickly take
the print out and pop it into the stop bath!
- Otherwise, try different papers too; each one has its
very own effects. For example, I really like Fomatone MG
as well – it doesn’t get very dark and produces lovely colours:
shadows purple, mid-tones orange and the highlights ochre. But it
always depends on the subject, of course...
So, good luck and be patient
Henryk
SamuliSchielke
Hello Reiko,
If you buy a small sample pack of Easylith (available from Mirko at a very reasonable price), it comes with instructions that are a masterpiece of clarity and precision. It tells you exactly what mixing ratios to use when printing with Easylith on Polywarmton, and what the result will look like. I learnt lith printing mainly from Moersch’s data sheets, and that’s saying something for such a complex technique...
Have fun,
Samuli
