This is a preview of the first three chapters ofThe Carbon Print by Sandy King and John Lockhart. For more information, or to purchase, visit: http://www.johnlockhart.net/carbonbook Cover Image: Sèvres, The Seine at Meudon. Alphonse-Louis Poitevin. 1855 - 1860. Carbon Print. Poitevin was the first to add pigment to gelatin sensitized with dichromate and, as such, is credited as the first to make a carbon print. The transfer method would be invented later by Swan. The Carbon Print Ian at Ten. John Lockhart. Carbon Print The Carbon Print The History, Theory, and Practice of Carbon Transfer Printing Sandy King John Lockhart Copyright © 2017 by John Lockhart and Sandy King All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Document version: 1.0.1 Equipment 26 Contents Light Sources 29 Printing With the Sun 30 Preface i Bank of BL or Daylight Fluorescent Tubes 30 Acknowledgments ii Graphic Arts Printers 30 Materials 31 About the Authors iii Special Notes on Dichromates and Gelatin 31 Potassium or Ammonium Dichromate? 31 Introduction v What Kind of Gelatin Should I Purchase? 32 The Love of Craft v The Legacy of Digital Imaging vi Materials Manufacture 36 The Revival of Carbon in the Modern Era vi About Gelatin 37 Making Carbon Printing Tissue 39 A Brief History of Carbon Printing 1 Preparing the Pigmented Gelatin 40 Refinement of the Carbon Process 3 Temporary Support Material 42 Carbon as a Commercial and Fine Art 6 Coating Carbon Tissue 42 Process 6 Simplified Hand Coating 42 Color Carbon 7 Coating with Flexible Magnetic Frames 43 Artists Working in Carbon 7 Tip: Calculating Volumes for Coating Height 45 Aesthetic Qualities of Carbon Prints 8 Using Magnetic Frames With a Heated Rod 45 Pigments 8 Coating with a Mayer Rod 45 Choice of Final Support 8 Historical Methods of Tissue Manufacture 49 Relief 9 Design Considerations for Carbon Tissue 49 Tonal Range 10 Final Supports for Carbon Printing 51 Sharpness and Acutance 10 Preparing Final Supports for Single Transfer 51 Archival Quality 10 Photographic Paper 51 Working in Carbon 11 Art Paper 52 Hardening Sized Art Papers 53 Getting Started 13 Methods for Hardening 53 How to Use this Book 14 Albumen and Gelatin Sizing 55 For Beginning Carbon Printers 14 Preparing Final Supports for Double Transfer 56 Safety 15 Carbon Transfer Prints on Glass 56 Process Overview 19 Carbon Transfer Prints on Metal 58 Equipment, Supplies, and Materials 24 Negatives for Carbon 61 The Working Environment 25 In-Camera Film Negatives 62 The Wet Area 25 Enlarged Darkroom Negatives 62 The Drying Area 25 Reversal Processing 63 The Printing Room 25 Direct Negatives from Transparencies 63 Safety 25 Positive-Negative Procedure 63 Chemicals and Substances 26 Digital Negatives 64 Digital Negative Methodology 65 The First Transfer and Development 111 Negatives Using Epson, Canon, and HP Native Drivers 66 Transfer to the Final Support 111 Using Black Ink 66 Final Supports for Double Transfer 111 Systems that Use Optimum Blocking Color 66 Transfer from Temporary to Final Support 112 Digital Negatives with QuadToneRIP 66 Finishing 113 QTR with All Gray Ink Sets 72 Design and Use of a Custom Gray Inkset with QTR 73 Color 117 Mixing a Custom Gray Ink Set for Epson 8 Ink Printers 74 History 118 Establishing the Ink Crossover Values 75 Working Procedures 119 Creating a GRAY_CURVE to linearize print output 78 Making Separation Negatives 119 Using the LINEARIZE Command to linearize print output 79 Correction for Color and Contrast 121 Preparing Negatives for Printing 81 Correction for Overall Contrast 121 Preparing a Safe Edge or Borderless Mask 82 Masking for Color Correction and Control of Protecting the Negative 83 Highlight Detail 121 Types of Separation Negatives 122 Single Transfer 86 Enlarged Separations for Three-Color Carbon Printing 123 Getting Ready 87 Digital Color Separations 124 Sensitizing the Tissue 88 Hybrid Color: B&W Film Separations and Digital Sensitizer Concentration 88 Correction 125 Spirit Sensitizing 89 Materials for Three-Color Carbon and Carbro 126 Mixing the Sensitizer with a Spirit 89 Traditional Procedures for Three-Color Carbon 126 Applying Sensitizer 90 Making the Color Reliefs 127 Tray Sensitizing 92 Transfer from Plastic Carrier to Support 128 Hybrid Sensitizing 93 Contemporary Color Carbon Printing 130 Adjusting Dichromate to Control Contrast 93 Steps in Making a Color Carbon Print: Contemporary Drying 94 Practice 130 Protecting the Negative 95 Making and Calibrating the Three-Color Pigment Tissue 133 Tip: Freezing Sensitized Tissue 95 Three-Color Pigment Set 133 Exposing the Sensitized Tissue 95 Formulating and Calibrating a Pigment Tissue Set for Mating Tissue and Support 96 Three-Color Carbon 135 The Mating Bath 96 Setup for Mating 97 Carbro 142 Steps for Mating 97 Comparison of Carbon and Carbro 143 Development 99 Working Procedures for Carbro 145 Developing the Print 101 Developing the Bromides 145 Finishing Development 103 Washing the Bromides 146 Using a Reducer 104 The Carbro Sensitizer 146 No-Wait Development 105 Sensitizing Procedures: Two-Bath Sensitizers 147 Single-Solution Sensitizers 148 Double Transfer 109 Sensitizing Procedures: Single-Bath Solution 149 Transfer to the Temporary Support 110 Mating Sensitized Tissue and Bromide 149 Placing the Tissue on its Support 150 Development 162 Development of the Carbro Relief 152 The Final Print 164 Alternative Single Solution Sensitizers 153 Common Faults and Remedies 154 Gallery 168 Finishing and Presentation 157 Appendix A: Suppliers 187 Clearing 158 Appendix B: Safe and Responsible Use of Dichro- Drying and Flattening 158 Spotting 158 mates in Alternative Printmaking 190 Overcoating 159 Bibliography 192 Troubleshooting 161 Index 194 Materials 162 tion. The newly rewritten guide contained new techniques we were Preface using as well as being better organized for the way we were teaching. Our project to produce a new and comprehensive book on carbon Over time our methods improved and simplified, but advances in tech- transfer raises some obvious questions. What new and useful informa- nology also had an influence. In particular, digital negatives became a tion could be written about a photographic process over 150 years old? standard part of the process for most printers. In addition to expand- Why not simply republish Sandy’s The Book of Carbon and Carbro? What ing the information on the use of digital negatives, it also made sense could be new in the fifteen years since the previous publication? We to organize the core of the book around the single transfer process with hope the answers to these questions will illuminate our desire to write separate chapters on double transfer, color, and carbro which build this new book as well as the style and organization of the material upon that core. within. Another motivating influence for writing this book was the printers At its foundation, carbon is a relatively simple process with a long who have participated in the carbon printing Yahoo group established history and strong kinship to the family of processes (gum, fresson, gu- in 2009. Surprisingly, with an artistic tradition over 150 years old, moil, collotype, woodbury type, photogravure) founded upon Ponton’s printers are still finding new ways to simplify the process and solve 1839 discovery. In addition, the fundamental materials and techniques problems. Over the past seven years, the participants in the group have of carbon have remained the same since Swan introduced the transfer shared a wide variety of new techniques and variations on almost every technique in 1864. aspect of the carbon process. We wanted to present some of the more established improvements, not only to simplify printing in carbon, but The resurgence of handmade processes, and the internet have given to also help printers better understand the principles that underlie the printmakers unparalleled access to historic and contemporary informa- process. tion. Classic texts, once only available in the stacks of academic librar- ies, can now be downloaded free of charge from Google Books. An- Lastly, we wanted to provide the material in formats that make it sim- swers to questions are often just a Facebook post away. YouTube videos pler for printers to obtain the book and apply its techniques. For exam- make the nuances of key processes and techniques visible. ple, you may be reading this as an e-book. This has made it simpler to publish the book with richer content that includes more photo illustra- Yet carbon still has a reputation for being difficult and inaccessible tions, galleries of prints, and links to resources that provide a deeper compared to other handmade processes. Some of this reputation is dive into key techniques. deserved. At times, carbon can seem as temperamental as it is beauti- ful. There was a desire to see The Book of Carbon and Carbro back in print We think the new book is a great leap forward built from a number and we were eager to help make the process easier to learn and under- of small steps, and well worth our efforts. Many of these steps we owe stand based on our combined experiences since the previous publica- to the members of the carbon printing community who have been so tion. open in sharing their experiences. We hope you enjoy learning from this book as much as we did producing it. In 2015 we worked to produce a book on carbon printing for Chinese readers published by Zhejiang Photograhic Publishing Company. In John Lockhart addition to galleries of prints by contemporary carbon printers, this Sandy King book contained a newly written process guide and historical introduc- i Acknowledgments First we would like to thank all of the printers who took time to contribute images to the book or supplied us with details on their par- ticular tools and techniques.