Old Orwo-Baryt paper and flatness

Gast · 2005-12-14T08:56:49+00:00

Beim Exhumieren meiner totgeglaubten Dunkelkammerausstattung stieß ich -o Freude- auf von mir vollkommen vergessene Schätze, nämlich etliche teilweise noch u...

Gast

Whilst digging out my darkroom equipment, which I’d thought was long gone, I came across – to my delight – some treasures I’d completely forgotten about: several boxes of Orwo baryta paper (BN111 etc.), some of which were still unopened. Well, I thought to myself in my no longer quite youthful recklessness, perhaps it’ll still be of some use, and made a few test prints on some sheets from a box that had already been opened. In principle, it all works, but the only nuisance is that the paper does all sorts of things, except lie flat under my enlarger. Some of this stuff is quite badly warped, so that even clamping solutions seem impractical. Attempting to ‘smooth it out’ over an edge fails, as the coating side takes the strain due to the necessary radii of curvature. So I would have to expose it through a thick, heavy glass plate... Is there any reason not to wet the paper before exposure and expose it whilst wet in such a case? If so, it would lie wonderfully flat and even on a glass plate...

Gast

Hi there, Radio Yerevan says, in principle, no (there’s no reason not to). If you’ve ever heard of Emmermann, they even slap the developer-soaked paper onto the base board. I’ve done that once, and it seems to me that the key is to manage to wipe off any ‘standing’ water without damaging the emulsion. Drops or a film of water lead to out-of-focus images. Regards Martin

Richard

Hello Guest, Why wouldn’t it work? ... and what have you got to lose? Wet paper is said to have a lower exposure speed, so don’t be surprised if you need a longer exposure time. I’m not sure whether a glass plate makes a good surface for exposure. I imagine that the reflection from the edges of the glass might cause a bit of stray light around the paper. Best regards Richard

Gast

Thanks for the tips. So instead of the glass plate, I should use something waterproof, sturdy and non-reflective; a heavy acrylic sheet or something similar. I’d mentioned the glass plate primarily because of the real wood veneer base of my enlarger, which doesn’t take kindly to moisture at all. (And with that, I’m also ‘outing’ myself as someone who doesn’t use an exposure frame). The problem of the water film or droplets might be managed with a suitably soft squeegee, but that doesn’t sound like a particularly satisfactory solution. Let’s see how sensitive the damp emulsion becomes. Do you know of any other way to get wavy or curled unexposed baryta paper properly flat?

Gast

Hello. What’s wrong with a thick sheet of glass? That’s the only way I used to enlarge things, and I never had any problems. You can get a sheet from a glazier (I suppose ‘just round the corner’ isn’t quite the right expression anymore, but there’s bound to be at least ONE left) for just a few euros. It just needs to be scratch-free and quite a bit bigger than the corresponding paper size. Stick some tape on the left and right to create a grip for yourself so you don’t reach too far into the image, and off you go. That way, there’s no messing about with water, your fingers stay dry (the exposure meter will appreciate that) and you get a flat sheet. Best regards, Ronald

cfb_de

Do you know of any other way to get corrugated/woven unexposed baryta paper properly smooth?

Yes. This:

And with that, I’m also admitting that I don’t use an exposure frame

I’ll have to reconsider and buy a Versamask. It’s not exactly cheap (roughly the same price as a mediocre mask frame from Dunco), limited to fixed sheet sizes, but it gets any paper flat and is a purchase for life. For a scraper, I’d use a nice, cheap windscreen wiper blade from an automotive accessories shop. The cheapest no-name blades are fine and work pretty well. Best regards, Franz

SamuliSchielke

The main drawback of using a glass plate is simply the tiny particles of dust and dirt that settle on its surface during the darkroom session. They aren’t there on the first print, but by the second and so on, fingerprints, dust and the like can start to appear – none of which you want in the picture. A Versamask or a mask frame is incredibly handy but not strictly necessary – there are plenty of simple ways to keep the paper flat that don’t involve water and don’t require a mask frame or similar. My mask frame only goes up to 18x24, which is why I’ve been forced to experiment with larger sizes. I’ve found two methods that work. 1. Heavy metal objects. Before I had the mask frame, I kept my papers flat using discarded floppy disk drives painted black. However, this only works up to a certain size. At the moment, I’m planning to have four 30 or 40 cm long blocks of iron cut to size at a specialist shop for the larger formats and then paint them black myself. That keeps any paper nice and flat. 2. It’s much easier to simply stick the paper onto the base plate. Masking tape works well, but you have to be careful not to damage the emulsion when removing the tape. Masking tape produces tiny amounts of blue light when you tear it off quickly, but I’ve never had any shadows on the paper from it. Have fun crafting, Samuli

cfb_de

I kept my papers flat using discarded floppy disk drives painted black.

Criminal! Probably from old DECs/VAXes or Macs. May you be wrapped in plain photo paper and rolled into the sea. Best regards, Franz

SamuliSchielke

Don't worry, Franz, it's all fine. I hope that makes my judgement a bit more lenient... S.