1895 Product booklet

*                   PRINTING ON READY.SENSITIZED PAPER.        65
           kind of print. Under the head of " Transparencies," we shall
           show how to make new and stronger negatives from sueh weak
              ones.
             Slow printinE always makes the richest prints. I{aIf of the
            back of the printine frame can be raised so that the print can be
             exarnined from time to tirne; care, of course, being taken not to
               aliorv the paper to be moved. from its first position, otherrvise the
              print rvill be blurred. If you print against the glass on the in-
             side of a rvindow be sure that the glass is clean, with no spots on
                it. The printing is to be carried on until the picture is one or
         two shades darker than it is desired to have it after tonirrg.
            After printing and toning one or two batches of prints there will
           be little difficulty in deciding how deep the printing should beI          canied. trYhen examining the prints in the frame, care should be
           taken not to allow sun-light to fall upon the paper, and the
          frames should be opened, therefore, awa.y from the strong
               light.
                  It sometimes occurs that a portion of a negative is thin, and
            prints very qnickly,.while the rest is intense and very slow in
            printing. To remedy this and get an even print, we can hold a
             sheet of rather thin, white paper over the thin part of the nega-
              tive while printing in the sunlight, the paper being cut so as to
            shade only the parts rvhich we wish to cover. The paper should
           be kept slowly moving so as not to let its outline sJroq' in the
            print. If this does not suflice, we can paint over the thin portions
           on the back of the plate with Gibon's opaque, and rub this off
*         when the more intense parts are uearly done. Or, the thin por-       .
            tions can be retouched on the back of the plate rvith one or
          two eoats of Prussian blue, applied with a fine water-color
,





                                                                                                                                                                                                    i:rri

66     THE AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER'S I]AND BOOK.               *

                                                                                  u'eiibrush. Previous to doing this the glass should be
cleaned with powdered pumice stone, rubbing it with the
finger moistened with alcohol or water, and then carefully
brushed off with a clean, soft cloth. This will allov' the color to
lie smoot''
               T.NTNG AND FrxrNG pRrNTS.
  The operation of toning should be carried. on either in the eve-
ning by artificiai light, or it can be safely done in the davtitne, but
not near a window admitting a strong light. As fast as the prints
are finished tirey should be put in a dark box until they are ready
for the next operation. It is better that the prints should be
toned the same day they are printed, though it is not necessarY
to do this; they can be kept a week or more if desirable, but it isbetter to tone them before too large a number acctrmulates, as it      I
is alway easier to tone a few prints at a tirne than to undertake a
great many. Before toningr the prints should be trirnmed care-
                                                            thevfully, and the trimrnings saved in sorue box or drawer;
contain silver, and hereafter we shall explain how to get the
silver out of them. To make the toning solution' we take a pint
bottle and pour into it an ounce of powdered borax. We fiII the
bottle with hot water and shake it until the borax is entirely dis-
                                                               a foursolved, then we set the bottle away to cool. Then we take
ounce bottle which we know to be perfectly clean, and llour into
                                                                      so-it the contents of our thirty grain vial of chloride sold and
dium. The gold does not all run out, but we shall attend to that
in a few minutes. Carefulll' cleaning our four ounce graduate we                                                                    (                                                   a few drops ofpour into it thirty drams distilled waterl we potlr
this into the gold vial,which dissolves tite gold, which we then Pour                                                                             I                          -We                                                                            flinto the four ounce bottle.     continue this                                                    several times,       -8

                                                                                                                             'l





                                                                                                                                                                                                                        )'o'r:' i.  r.                 ,-l

*                        PRI}iTING ON READY.SENSITTZF.D PAPER.        67
            poo.ing a little water into the vial and then pouring that into the
             other bottle, until we are sure that all of the gold is out of the
                vial, rvhen \ve ponr the balarrce of the thirty drams into our
               bottle and cork it.  This bottle now contains thirtv drams water,
           and thirty grains gold and sodiutn, and we label it:
                                Chloride gold solution.
                         One dram equals one grain.
           For the fixirrg bath we use one ounce hyposulphite soda
             dissoh-ed in eight ounces water, attd add, when readv to use,
           four or tive drops of strong arnmonia. By this tirne we
                  rvill take it for granted that our solution of borax is cool, and we
             take of that two onnces and two orlnces of water, to which we add
;           one dram of our gold solution. This makes the toning bath,
           and we pour it into our toning tray. After using this toning
             bath, unless rve have more prints to tone the sarne day, it should
                                   'W'e            be thrown a\ray.    now take a clean trayr large enough to hold
            our prints, and {ill it neariy fnll of water. Into this we lay t}re
               'prints                  one by one, face down, pressing them carefuily under the
            water so that no air bubbles adhere to the paper. We stir them
            about in the tray and shake the tray for a few minutes, and then
            pour tire rvater off, which we notice is slightly milky: we then
                    lill the tray again and shake it  u'ell to let the water freely
              circulate among the prints, and again pour off the water. lVe
             repeat this operation half a dozen tirnes, and the time before the
               last u'e add to the water about three drams of our stock solution
          of carbonate soda. fn large photograph establishments theF
             water from these first two or three washings is always saved as
                   it is very rich in sih'er. But amateurs, unless they expect to do
            a good deai of printing, will not fincl it to pay to save theseG\*

1
                                                                                    .:
68    THE AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER'S' HAND BOOK'
       -We                shall, however, in a subsequent chapter explain how                    tlwastes.
all these wastes can be saved. W'hen the prints are finally
                                                                  sorne-washed, which, it will be noticed has changed thern to a
                                                                                  is                        *lu,hat reddish color, they can be placed in the toning bath. It
not desirable to have more than six or eight in the toning bath
                                     dozen in the washing-at one tirne, and., therefore, if we have a,
                                                  place thenr intray we rvill tone at {irst only six of them. -We
the bath one by one, face down, pressing each one u'ell into the
solution to insure its being wh.oliy covered. IMe now gentl.y rock
the tray to circulate the solution thoroughly through the prints
                                                                      care-and atter a few tninutes we raise them at qne corner and
                                               see if  it  is full,v d.raw out the lower one, which we examine to
 sufficiently toned. If not toned, we replace it on the top of the                                                          * others and again draw out the nrrder one: thisr we keep repeat'
                                            rvhen the prints have ing until the toning is done, which will be                                                              d                                                         This a rich purple tint, when exarnined by transmitted. Iight.
 tint should show rich and warm right through the paper. The
 peculiar tint can only be learned by experience. Do not siight
                                                    some the rnatter of turning the prints. If allowed to remain
 time in the toning bath without this constant changing there are
 liable to occur small or large spots where air bubbles prevent the
 toner from actingr and such spots retain their reddish color.
 Should suctr spots be seen, they can usually be cured bv turning
                                                                    soLu- tlrern, print face up in the tlay, and pouring some of the                                'When
 tion on the spots from a graduate.       toned sufficientl,v the
 prints should be placed in a tray of clearr water, and the other
 batch of prints placed. in the toning bath to go through tlte same                                     I11 operations. After all the prints are toned they should be thor-
                                                changes of oughly washed. in the washing tray in five or six                                                                    {





                                                     " ;:1 '   '  .:    ..u   - * -"J ; i

t                     PRINTING ON READY.SENSITIZED PAPER.        69
             waterl they are then ready for the fixingbath and areto beplaeed
            in the fixer one at a time, face down. The fixing tray should be
             rocked occasionally, an,J the prints changed once or twice, from
             the bottom to the top, as in toning. The prints should retnain
              in it about iifteen minutes. The fixing bath should be used for
                                         'While             only one batch of prints.       they are in the fixer the salt
             bath can be pr.epared, which is made by dissolving about one
              orluce cornrnon salt in four ounces of rvater. The object of the
                salt bath is to prevent blisters, which are very annoying when
             they occur in the prints. Blisters, however, in spite of ai1 pre-
               cautions, ma.y occur, and it may be well to know how to manage
           them. .Luy a clean piece of blotting paper on a smooth board,
             or on the top of your table, ancl upon this lav the wet print, facef.                                                           sheet of blotting papert          up. Then cover the blister with another
            and very gently rub the paper directly over the blister with a
               circular motion. This rubbing should be very light at first, the
             pressure being gradually increased, and afier a few rnoments the
                blister will be found to have disappeared, or will leave but a
                slight trace, which cannot be seen after the print is dty. After
              the prints have been a sufficient tirne in the fixer they are trans-
               ferred directly, one at a time, to the salt solution, in which they
             should'remain live or six minutes, and then, afterrinsinginfresh
             water, piaced in the washing-box. Dealers in photographic
               nraterials generally have washing-boxes for sale, but we have
            ahvays found the following the most serviceable for our own use.
        We take a large, clean earthen jar, the larger the better (our owni              holds about 10 gallons) which we stand in a sink or bath tub,
             the water being let into it by means of a rubber tube, running
            from the tap to the bottom of the jar. The prints are placed in ,+.},





                                                                                                                 .i  -; '" 1:                                                * i,li,f*ii,.:

r:



                              CIIA PTER VIII.

                    MoUNTING AND BuRNISIIING TIIE PRIIITS.                                                                      p,,,Jl,r4
                                                                                             I                                          as soon as they are washed, or the          tT IIE prints can be monnted
                I   mounting may be deferred to sorne subserluent time. In
            the former case the prints should be taken directly from the water
                                                                              glass, and'           and laid one above the other, face dovrn' on a sheet of
                 all the surplus water should be squeezed out of them. The hand-
               iest thing for doing this is a small rubber roller, which can beI
                                                           have beerr            procured of dealers in these rnaterials. If  the prints
              allou'ed to dry after washing them, they will, of course, need to
           be thoroughly moistened again by soaking in water'
        A good paste for mounting prints can be rnade by soaking
            about one-half ounce of comrnon lauudry starch in one ounce of
             cold rva,ter for say half an hour, and then adding to this two
              ()unces of boiling hot water, and immediately stirring the mixture
             This paste will not keepr but should be used. the sarne day that it
                                                    answer for mount-                is made. A. paste that wilt keep, which will
             ing photographs and for various other purPoses for which a paste
                                                     Take about two                 is recluired, can be ulade in the following way:
                                                                  and             o.nces of cornmon laundry starch ald trvo ounges of water,
                                    saucepan until it is like a thick cream; ,             stir tliese together in a
            add to this one pint of hot water and" about seventy-five grains
             sheet gel.atine, cut into small pieces, and stir these together well,
                       let tirem boil on the stove for six or eight minutes, and then ,          and





                                                                                |                                                                                      -" o r   , "r     - tdo  "

*                  MOUNTING AND BURNISHTNG THE PRINTS.        73
           Mix the colors on a paint slab or saucer to rnatch exactly the
            tint of the print, using a few drops of the above solution to
           moisten the paints. With carmine, Prussian blue and neutral
               tint, any shade can be matched. Apply this very delicately and
             carefully with a fine-pointed brush.
         When the prints are almost dry they can be burnished. The
            burnishing iron should be heated and kept hot during the burnish-
             ing, about the same heat as a flat iron in ironiug clothes. Care
          must be taken to keep the polished surfaee of the burnisher bright
          and clean. When the iron is hot enough the prints should be
             Iightly rubbed with a glacd polish, which is sold for this prlrpose,
         and is applied with a small wad of flannel. Then the prints
          should be passed through the burnisher two or three tinres, the
           burnisher being so adjusted that the pressure on the prints is
           rather light; the degree of pressure will be cprickly learned by
            experience, more pressure being required if the prints have been
             allorved to become dry before being polished. W'hite castile soap
            will do very well as a lubricator for the prints before burrrishing,
          and is applied in the same manner as the above.
                 It may often happen that it is not convenient to burnish prints
            the same day they are mounted, in whish case they can be subse-
             quentl.v moistened safely in the following wa)': Set a developing
            tray filled with water in the bottom of the furning box previously
            described, and upon the perforated pasteboard lay the rnounted
             prints, on edge, so that they do not touch each other, and close the
           door tight. In a few hours they will become sufliciently moist
                                                    .t           to burnish.                      _; ly                                                        ,r;                 If  it is desired to have the prints polished without rnounting
                 it can be done in the following way: Procure one or two sheets
#

T4     THE AMATEUR pHorocRApHER's IIAND BooK.
  of highly polished rubber and lay the wet prints face down
  these, p.tting on as many at a time as the rubber will hold;'n
  the. all the wate. sho'ld be sq'eezed out of the prints with a
 rubber roller, and after that the surplus moisture should be
 soaked up from the back of the prints with blotting paper, the
 prints being firrnly and srnoothlv pressed into contact lvith the
 rubber. They will dr"v in half an ho'r or so, when they can be
 easily removed from the rubber, and will he foun,il to come out
 perfectly flat and with a beautiful, brilliant polish.
   Every amate'r should have a large album for his workroom,
 an<i paste in it one print from each negative rnade. Above this
 should be marked the n'mber of the negative, and belorv it
 something             like the                        follorving:                                                              t.          Carbutt              B.-6-fB2_10                          B. Mu) 10, 1890.
   This shows the ki'd of plate .secl, the number of seeonds of
 exposure, tire size of stop, the time of day, whether bright
 or cloudy, and the date.
   This will be a reference book, showing at a Elance whether the
 tirne and stop were correct for such a view-a helpful guide for
 future work.
  To mount quite large photographs we dampen a piece of trrick
 blotting paper, cut to the exact size of the print, and lay this upon
tire back of the card for abo't ten minutes previous to the
mo'nting. 'w-hen the print is pasted on the other side bottr
sides of the card will dry at the same time and rernain flat.
  Albnmen prints have a tendencJ, to curl very lnuch in drying,
which can be prevented by soaking them, after the final washing,
one by one for a few mirrutes in a solution of pure gl,yee"iue arid
distilled water,        in the proportion of one part glyceriue to        F               'rixed                                                 rt




                                                           .  i.'irl-":.

v                 MOUNTING AND BURNISHING THE PRTNTS.     75
           five parts water. W'hen removed from this the superfluous
           moisture should be absorbed by gentle pressure between sheets
            of clean, white blotting paper. After this they should be laid out
             flat to dry, when they will become soft and smooth. At anv
           subsequent time they can be mounted dry, using paste or gelatine,
          and burnished.
            Once more in regard to alburns. The one used" for a reference
         book need not be of an expensive kind; any old blank book, of
             sullicient size, with every other leaf cut out, n'ill answer for this
          purpose, as the book is soiely for the arnateur's llse. Against
           the prints in this book it  s'ill be well to keep a record of the
           toning, the kind of paper used, etc.
            Another album should be used in which to preserve all theq
           best views taken, and these are proeurable of dealers in photo'
           graphic supplies. The writer has his own albums made with
           extra heavy leaves, macle by pasting together two thicllnesses of
           ((mounting board.tt Such leaves will not warp or curl.





*,*

CHAPTER IX.

                   BLUE PR,INTS.
T|HERE are few processes in the art, which are as simple arr,l
 I   easy to follow and capable of such beautiful results, as mak-
ing prints on blue paper. As the paper is easy to prepare, every
arnateur should make his own, because it is always better for
being perfectly fresh. Aty good close-grain, hard.-surface, wove         f,
paper is good for our purpose, and the heavier the better. The
best paper that the rvriter ever used, for this purpose, was some
very heavy paper especially prepared by Crane. A  so-called
book paper will not answer, as it is too porous. But any paper
that malies a good writing paper, will also rnake good blue
      To prepare the paper, the amateur rvill need a very line'l)aper.
soft sponge, one of those usually called a nursery sponge.
For convenience in handling this, about half or two-thirds of the
sponge should be inserted in the neck of a rather wide mouth
bottle, which will serve as a handle. The part of the sponge
outside the bottle should rneasure about one inch and a half in
diameter, to be the proper size for applying the sensitizins solu-
tion. For the solution, procure several ounces each of citrate            f
iron and arnmonia and ferricyanide of potassiurn (red prussiate
of potash) C. P. The chemically pure is very tnuch to be pre-
ferred to the ordinary commercial article, because it produces a                                                                                       rtl





                                                                                ;ri';Ei?:i..1

L                            BLUE PRTNTS.                77
           muclr more brilliant blue. Take of the lattei 256 grains and
L          dissolvein afour ounce bottle of water; cover the bottle with an
          opaque paper and label it,
                               STOCK SOLUTION.
                       Red prussiate of potash
                           1 dram equals 8 grains.                '          ,
        We rnake a stock soiution of this because it will keep indef-
           initely. The other chernical used in sensitizing blue paper will
           not keep, and therefore should be prepared fresh every time.
           Having previously prepared this potash so that it will be dis-
           solved and ready to use when needed, we dissoive 50 grains
             citrate iron and ammonia in one-half ounce of water. This takes
           but a few minutes to dissolve. The citrate of iron and ammoniat           should be kept in a wide.mouth glass bottle and corked tight, so
            that no air or moisture can get to it.  Having the two chemicals
         now dissolved and ready to use, we pour irrto a small graduate
           four drams of the potash solution, which is the sanre quantity as
        we are going to use of the iron and ammonia. W'e place our
           funnel in our four ounce graduate, having previously placed in
          the bottorn of the funnel a small rryad of wet cotton wool, and
         pour the potash into the funnel and imrnediately follow it with
           the half ounce of iron and ammonia. The,v will filter through
           the cotton in a few minutes, and to this solution we add about
          one grain of bromide of potassium from the stock solution which
         we have at hand. This bromide must be used judiciously. If
               all the paper is to be used within a week, do not add any brom-
         ide. It is only to be added where the paper is to be kept for
         some uncertain tirne. Too much bromide will make the paper
 $#





             .,.:t:-  l                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ' !t,t

78     THE AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER'S HAND BOOK.            i
print slowly. The object of this bromide is to keep the sensi-
tized paper fresh. Now take the paper which we wish to sensi-      c
tize, and cut it to a convenient size, as it is much easier to
sensitize smoothly a small sheet of paper than it is a large one.
trVe pin this paper by the four corners to a smooth board on
which has been placed a sheet of clean paper. Any drawing
board will answer for this purpose, if  it is soft enough to hold
the pins. Norv we take the sponge and rnoisten the end of it, so
that it will take water freely, and then squeeze all the water out
of it, and dip the sponge in the sensitizing solution that is in the
graduate. The sponEe will suck up more than lt'e tteed, so \Me
press it against the glass to squeeze out a part. 'fhe cluantity
can only be learned by experience. x With the sponge in liand,
now swab the paper gently, smoothly and tluickly, beginning        {
at the upper left-hand corner and brushing lengthwise across
the paper, continuing this, always worliing the sponEe in the                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   "{-sarne direction, until the surface of the paper is covered with the
solution I then imrnediately, without again dipping the sponge in
the glass, swab the paper at right angles to the first direction, be-
ginning at the lower left-hand corner and ending at the upper
right-hand corner. This should be done quicklv and snrc'othly.
Hang the paper up to dry, bI one or two of the pins, where no
dust or dirt can get upon it, and proceed to sensitize attother sheet
in the sarne way. After sensitizing the cprantity needed, the
paper, which will dry in a ferv tninutes, can be cut to different
 sizes. Ali of these operations, of course, should be done in the                                                      d
 er.ening and not by daylight. If  all of the solution is not used                                 rli
   U." just enough in the sponge to brush over the paper without allowiug   "
 the solutionto flnw or spread,.
                                                                                                                                                            .

I                             BLUE PRINTS.                    79
         do not attempt to preserve it, but throw it away and care-
             fully clean out the glass. So rnuch for the paper.
            Blue paper should be printed preferably in the sunlight, as
                 it may take several hours to print in the shade, an<i tire printing
            should be continued until the dark portions of the picture assume
          a kind of bronze color. A iittle experience will show just how
                                 'When             far to carry the printing.       the printing is done, the print
           should be placed in a tray of rvater, face down for a few minutes,
          and left there until the whites in the picture come out clear. or
                 tiil the white rnargin around tire picture comes out white, when
                 it can be hung up to dry.  It is not necessary, of course, to put
           the prints in the water, as soon as they are printed, as they can
         be kept for a day or two, and a number of them washed at the
          same time.
        We think it is a verJr good plan in making blue prints to have
          one or two large frarnes, so that the btrue print can be printed in
           the center of a large sheet of paper, when it will show lilre an
           engraving, with a broad margin aroun<i it.  Suppose we have a
           frame, the inside of which is 11 x 14 inches, for r,vhich rve ]rave a
           piece of glass cut the sarne size, as a support to the smaller neg-
            ative from which we wish to print in this frame. If our negative
              is 5 x 8 inches for example, we cut out a sheet of thick opaque
           paper 11 x 14 inches and in the center of this. for a 5 x 8 neg-
             ative, we cut an opening, say four and five-eighths inches one
        way and seven and a half inches the other way. Placing the neg-
            ative in the center of our frame on the glass, we 1a;' npon it this
            bla,ck mat, so that all the nrargin of the negative is errtirelv
           covered, and upon this 'rve lay our sheet of blue papel., cut the
         same size, 11 x 14 inches. W'e make a print frorn this, and on
*

I                                                          t     80     rHE AMATEuR r,HorocRApHERrs HAND BooK.
  '    puttingit in the washing-tray, we find that all of the blue solu-
       tion on the margin washes off, leaving all of the paper except        t
     the picture pure white. After it  is dried, it should be pressed             '!
'     smooth under a heavy weight.
        Plate marks can be made on these prints in the same way as
      described in the following chapter.
       our normal solution for seneitizing paper for blue prints, as
      given on page 77 is:
                          No. 1.
                    Citrate ir.orr and ammonia, 50 grains.
                        'W'ater,                      4 drams.
                          No. 2.
               Red prussiate potash, 82 grains
                                                                              {
      The nr"n"-Hl'J";i ffH''"h.-i"urs may be varied to suit
      different qualities of paper. fn sensitizing a rough surface and
                                                                                               t      rather soft paper we find a less quantity of the iron and ammonia
     more suitable, using thirty-two grains in place of the fifty. Too
     rnuch of the irorr and ammonia has a tendency to leave the
      whites of the print with a yellowish tinge after washing.                                                  '

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ,,       Again, for a very rough paper, when it is desirable to have the
      sensitizing:'solution  entirely on the surface, we dissolve the.given
      t}rantity of iron and ammonia in a half ounce of gelatine water
      (sheet gelatine ten grains, hot water one half ounce), or in a weak                                                                                                                                                    i
      soiution of gum arabic.
                                               $

                                                                                                            d
                                                                    3il

fl




                     CHAPTER X.

                         PLAIN PAPER AND ALBUITUN I,'ET'PN.
         .IrO our mind there is no process of printing that can cornpare
                                II                  in an artistis sense with prints on plain paper. The gloss
         and shine of alburnen prints are not pleasing to the eye; they
            nsually detract frour the beauty of the picture. If albumen
             prints do not appear finished without a polish, it ought to be an
                                        'We                                                                             per-
                                                                                pcl-#         objectionson who possessesto the usea offinethatengravingpaper. wouldhardlyconsentthinkto havethat ita
          ished. That would give it a cheap and tawdry appearance.
          The plain paper is altogether easier to prepare than the albu-
 I         men, and the process is so simple that anyone can make it, and
         make with it most beautiful pictures. Perhaps the simplicity of
             its preparation is one reason why amateurs are not encouragetl
            to use it, as it would lessen the dernand for other papers in whieh
            there is gleater profit.
         The same paper that is used for rnaking blue prints will
          answer for this purpose. Care should be taken to select a paper
            that is smooth and not too hard, of pure linen stock. The paper
               first recprires to be salted, for which purpose lve prepare a solution
            as follows:                                                                             -t1l                                                    Jliz'ii,L,,  z v
          To 16 ounces of hot water add 16 grains sheet gelatine, and
         when this is dissolved add 50 grains chloride amrnoniurn.
             After this solution has become cool, it should be filtered. The
*





        ,;,:t":ird;                              ,r,Fl,;-ir::4                         -'ll.iil!'t      ,

l
                                                       _t                                                                             fl,82     THE AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER'S HAND BOOK.
paper should be cut a little larger than it is intended to be when
finished. That is to say, if we wish to make some 8x10 plain              ,fll
papcr, it would be well to have our sheets for sensitizirtg 10$ or
11x16f or !7 inches. Or, if we wish to make 5x8 paper. the
paper should be cut either the size mentioned before, or about
8fx10f inches, as a large sheet can be prepared about as cluickly
as a srnall one. Having our paper ready, we pour the solution
into a tray, a trifle larger than the paper, and either float the paper
upon it or immerse the paper in it.  In the first case only one
side, the side which comes in contact with the salt solution would
be salted. In the latter case both sides. If only one side of the
paper is salted it wili be necessary to mark the other side with a
pencil to show the right side for sensitizing. The manner of
floating the paper upon the solution is as follows: Take the paper                               Ibv two opposite corners, one in each hand, and bring the tw<r
corners nearly together; lay the paper gently upon the solution,
Ietting the two corners down in such a way as to drive out any
air bubbles that might get beneath thern. Then if the corners
curl upward, either blow thern down or press thern down with the
fingers till they lie smooth. The paper should renrain on the
solution about three minutes, when it should be removed by
raising one corner, and then hung up to dry. All these opera-
                                                                                                                     'f'tions, of course, are done by daylight. In plaee of floating the
paper upon the solution, it can be wholly immersed, rvhich is
much the best way, as well as the easiest. This is done by
placing one side of the paper in the solution at the edge, and
shoving it along under the solution until the whole is in the
tray. If any air bubbles are seen on the paper they should be
immediately touched with the finger to remove them. The



            4



                      rln.{[',:,:,  ,,1;."1

f                            .        PI,AIN PAPER AND ALBUMEN PAPER.         83
           paper should remain in the soiution half a minute, and then
                                        -Where            be hung up to drv as before.        both sides in this way are
              salted it is, of course, unnecessary to mark either, as the sensi-
             tizing can be done on either side. The paper will dry in twenty
           or thirty rninutes, wiren it will be ready for sensitizing, or it
         may be kept for any length of time until needed. The tirne for
             Ieaving the paperin tbe solution will vary wiih different quali-
               ties of paper. Frorn ten to fifteen seconds rvill be long enough
            for a soft, smooth paper. Hard papers! such as are used for
              ledgers, require longer time.
           The above we should call a normal salting solution. If we
             decrease the quantity of chloride alnrnoniunr to thirty grains, we
           should have a weak bath, which would require a weak sensitiz-
            ing solution, thirty to thirty-five grains of silver in the place oft            the sixty grain solution we describe hereafter.
            or we might make a yery strong salt bath by increasing the
              quarrtity of amrnoniurn to one hundred grains. Paper so strong-
              ly salted should be sensitized with a solution containing sixty-
             five to seventy-five grains of silver in place of the sixty grains
            mentioned.
            The quality of the negative determines the strength of the sen-
              sitizing solution; for a weak, thin negative the paper should be
             strongly sensitized and printed in diffused light, or exposed to the
            sun with a sheet of white paper in front of the printing-frame  I for
           an intense or slow printing negative, the paper should be sensi-
             tized with a weak silver solution, and printed in the sunshine.
            For all ordinary negatives, however, it will be found that the
              salt bath we give first, and the sixty grain silver solution, will
           answer every requirement.
#





    "rqi   .

ti
                       PLAIN PAPER AND ALBUMEN PAPER"          85
                                              'When            minutes by stirring them with a glass rod.        dissolved we
             add, drop by ,lrop,concentrated amrnonial a dark brown precipi-
               tate will be fonned. Keep adding the ammonia, drop by drop,
           and after about thirty drops begin stirring u'ith the giass rod;
               after awhile, the dropping and stirring being continued, the am-
           monia will redissolve the dark precipitate, and the solution will
                                    -W'hen            begin to grow clear.           it is perfectly clear pour one-half of
             the solution into the other ernpty graduatel then, to eitlter oneof
             these solutions, add drop by drop strong nitric acid, stirring the
              solution with the glass rod. Continue adding the aoid until the
              solution turns blue litmus paper red I then pour the acid solution
               into the solution in the other graduate and add water to make up-E              to one ounce. This is the solution required for our sensitizing.
                 If nrade in the day time these operations should be carried on in
             the dark-roon, or it can be made in the evening by gas or larnp
             light. The solution should be poured into a bottle covereC with
             dark paperr and will keep irrdefinitely in a dark place.
              -We will now proceed to sensitize the paper, which can be done
                                   'We                     irr the evening by gas light.     lay a sheet of clean paper, larger
            than the paper we wish to sensitizqon a smooth board, and to
               this we pin a sheet of the saltetl paper with the salted side up.
          The pins should be place<i in the four corners of the paper, and
              as near to the edge as possible.         f\
              W'e now have to describe horv to make the brush for applying
             the solution. Forthispurpose we needa glass tube three orfour
              inches longr and about one-half inch in diameter inside. In case
          we do not have this we can break a hole through the bottom of a
                                                              'We              four-onnce bottle, and use that in the place of the tube.     pass
              the loop of a doubled string-clean white cord is the best to use p





       .,i$i,n

E6       THII AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPIIER'S HAND BOOK.
for this purpose-\r,e pass this loop through the tube and run
through it, that is through the loop, a rvad of fine cotton wool.
W'e then. by pulling on the two ends of the string, pull a portion
of this wad into the tube, the Ereater part of it forrning a sort of





ball or brush at the end. The ends of the string are then fastened
securely around the tube, and then the wad is trimmed neatly
with scissors, cutting off all the loose ends. This sensiti zing
brush should be from one incb to one and a half inches in diame-
ter, the size dependirg sornewhat npon the size of the paper which
we wish to sensitize. ff we wish to prepare a sheet of 5 x 8 paper
only, a very small brush will answer for that pnrpose. Everv-
thing being ready, we pour a few drams of the silver solution
into a four-ounce graduate, and in this we place the brush, allow-
itg it to soak up as much of the solution as it will. Then with
the paper before us on the board as described, and inclined

t
il
                       PLAIN PAPER AND ALBUMEN PAPER.         8T
           towards us, we take the brush and swab the paper, beginning at
            the upper left hand corner and brushing across the paper to the
            right until all the paper has been covered. With the first shcet
             of paper, if it is a large sheet, it may be necessary once or twice
             to take up a little more solution on the brush. As soon as we
            have thus firrished the paper we turn the board at right angles to
                its fornrer position, so that one end will incline towards us, and
              irnrnediately, without adding any more solution to the brush,
          swab the paper &cross, beginning at the top and working dowri
             to the bottom of the paper. This cross brushiug prevents the
            formation of any streaks which might make their appearance if
            the paper were brushed one way only. Also, care must be taken, in
           laying on the solution, always to brush right to the edge of
            the palier
            The board should now be laid flat, and after a few minutes, or
             as soon as it becomes partly or surface dried, the paper should be
          hung up by two corners to dry. As this is done in the evening
                  it is not necessary, of course, to hang the paper in the dark-room.
             'W'hen a sufficient quantity of paper has been sensitized and
            allowed to dry thoroughly, which it will do in fifteen minutes, it
            can be cut to the required size, and the clippings preserved with
            the clippings frorn ordinary silver paper. The sheet of paper on
          which the paper has been sensitized should also be kept for sub-
           sequent use. Any silver solution remaining in the graduate
            should be returned to the dark bottle, and the brush, when dry,
          can be adcled to the clippings of silver paper, as it is quite rich
             in silver. This brush should never be used a second tirne. This
             silver paper which we have now rnade should be printed on the
            next day or two after being made, or it can be preserved forp





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