Olivinyl
Hello everyone,
I had a go at ‘high-gloss drying’ today… but it never got beyond the experimental stage, as I didn’t have any success.
I wanted to give a few test prints – ones I didn’t mind ruining – a glossy finish.
I realise that high-gloss drying isn’t easy, but it just isn’t working at all!
My method: Soaked the photos in Mirasol 1+400. Let them drain and placed them on the mirror plate with the coated side down.
The press had a surface temperature of 82°C (measured with an infrared thermometer). Plugged it in (unfortunately there’s no temperature control on the press – not yet, it’s still to be retrofitted)
Cleaned the mirror plate, smoothed the photos with a rubber roller, placed them on the press and put the tensioning straps over them. Kept the temperature at approx. 78–80°C by switching the power on and off. A slight crackling sound after about 2 minutes and... slightly detached at the edge, and the residue of the emulsion is mercilessly stuck to the high-gloss surface!
I cleaned the high-gloss surface with washing-up liquid, with pure alcohol, and with glass cleaner using a microfibre cloth. I also pressed the images onto it while they were soaking wet. No success.
Not quite – the area that came away of its own accord does at least have a nice shine!
The mirror sheet is absolutely clean and flawless (slight smear marks).
I’ve tried old Agfa paper, Orwo, Webaphot. Nada – nothing. No success.
I’ve even toyed with the idea of repolishing the surface of the plate with polish/sealant without abrasives. Apart from slight smear marks, the emulsion is flawless and clean!
I read somewhere that it can help to treat the surface with talcum powder and blow the residue away.
Best regards, Oliver
MirkoBoeddecker
Hmmmm, I’d try leaving it to dry for a bit longer.
If it’s still sticky, it hasn’t dried properly yet.
You can also work with just the cling film, without using the press’s heating element, and leave it to set overnight.
Best regards,
Mirko
Wolf_XL
...You’ve diluted the Mirosol incorrectly – the 1:400 dilution is for film; for baryta paper, the recommended ratio is 1:1...
see here
piu58
You can peel it off the film after a while; it hadn’t dried completely yet. The problem with high-gloss drying is what are known as ‘speckles’. I never managed to get the hang of it back then. There were always one or two on the picture.
Olivinyl
Hello everyone,
It seems that problem number 1 has already been solved: use Mirasol at a dilution of 1:40 rather than 1:400.
Best regards, Oliver
Olivinyl
Hello everyone,
Well, Mirasol at a dilution of 1:40 didn’t solve the problem, nor did a ‘dash’ of pure alcohol.
I popped into my workshop between lunch and coffee and fetched some ‘Nevr-Dull’. These are cotton fibres soaked in a polishing compound. I use this polish regularly to polish the chrome parts and alloy wheels on my classic car.
I tried it out first on the edge of the mirror panel and it didn’t leave any further scratches. So I polished the entire panel.
I then polished it again with a cotton cloth and cleaned the surface with alcohol.
Lo and behold, it works!
After about 5 minutes, it cracks and the images peel away from the high-gloss metal without any fuss. No cracking of the shell and no annoying specks either.
Only the Webaphot paper doesn’t behave as I’d like. As it’s as thick as card, it takes a good 10 minutes, but it only becomes high-gloss in the middle; the rest unfortunately remains matt. The considerably older, paper-thick AGFA Brovia takes on a glossy finish right to the edge without any fuss.
I’ve tested it back and forth, and it makes no difference whether the sheet is cleaned with glass cleaner or alcohol before the images are pressed onto it; both work perfectly. I always polish the sheet with a microfibre cloth before pressing the images onto it.
I don’t understand why the card-thick paper won’t cooperate. The cloth also lies flat against the images.
Best regards, Oliver
I almost forgot: when it works, it looks really lovely!
Wolfgg
When you hear a crackling sound, the paper begins to peel away from the film. Only when the crackling stops has it peeled away completely on its own and is ready. Do not open the press too soon.
Thick cardboard requires strong pressure from the tension cloth, otherwise it will curl away from the film too early.
Mix Mirasol with distilled water, as limescale interferes with the high gloss.
There used to be an insider tip involving methylated spirits: soaking the print in it and squeezing it out produced the best high gloss.
Regards, Wolfgang
