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> Finally, I think I've found a good spotting medium |
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Finally, I think I've found a good spotting medium
Well, after trying umpteen different inks and paints, for spotting my b/w prints, I think that I may have found something that actually does the job and is neutral in colour and tone, even when heavily diluted!
As usual, it's not so good on RC prints, but definitely, whilst taking ones time, it does seem to work on FB prints. It's as black as you can get, and is easily diluted to make lighter shades AND you get a HUGE amount for your money! What am I talking about? Chinese ink sticks. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...Desc=0&_sop=15 I could be wrong, but I think that this is what is mentioned in books about what Weston used, with gum Arabic, to retouch his glossy prints? For the price, give it a try. To think I might even come to enjoy spotting. Terry S |
#2
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This sounds interesting! For this little money it's well worth a try.
How bad / well does it work on RC prints, also compared to other methods? Does it stick (no pun intended ) to RC paper at all? |
#3
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Mike |
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Spotting Resin Coated
Have you tried spotting resin coated when it is slightly damp. The RC emulsion will take a spotting dye easier than a dry print. I have been using it for years with RA4 colour paper as well.
My spotting inks/dyes are actually digital printer dyes from a 5 colour cartridge and one black. They actually work very well and with the 5 colours you can mix virtually any shade you wish. To get the colour/shade of grey match I let the print dry fully then wet it and wipe it dry immediately and do the spotting straight away. |
#5
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Wow, that's a lot of questions and points to think about.
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As for trying black printer inks, I've tried the ones used in my printer and even bought a few samples of high end printer black inks, which are used in the more expensive printers. I found whatever the price, when diluted even slightly, they became shades of dark blue, rather than staying black or grey tones. Well, it seems I have a bit more testing to do, but will report back when I've done some more. Terry S |
#6
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The lack of color shift sounds promising.
I've only ever spotted one or two prints in my short darkroom history, which I did with a very fine tipped black permanent marker. That gives me only one shade (pitch black) and it has a slightly reddish/orange glow to it when light reflects off of it on Pearl paper. It got the job done pretty decently but was far from perfect ofcourse. I didn't have anything else at hand (I expected the color cast beforehand), but ever since I found myself cleaning the negatives and waffing the paper again and again, making re-prints until I'm happy. The other day though, I had a scratched negative which I could not print without markings. Those prints would definitely benefit from proper spotting. I'll order myself a stick and some very fine brushes and give it a try as well! How is this ink best used for spotting; I understood that for Calligraphy use you're supposed to grind some material off of it and mix that with water. Is that also how you use it for spotting, or do you simply stroke the wet brush on the stick like with those dry-spot cards? Perhaps it will be self-explanatory once I'd try it myself though. |
#7
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As for the way to use it, I'm sure there are many, but I do almost as you say. I wet a brush heavily and then run this over the stick to pick up some colour. I then put it into a paint pallet (although I tried it on the back of a scrap RC test strip as well, which worked), which has a small amount of water in / on it. Then treat it as you would inks etc. by taking some of this colour and make another more diluted patch of colour etc. I hope this makes sense? And of course, there is the cost, which is much less than some of the inks being sold, none of which I have really got on with colour wise. I also yesterday had another go at spotting, as like most I am far from an expert at it. FB Art 300 was a doddle to spot first time but RC pearl took a little longer, but I got there. As I'm getting a little bored of the pearl surface at the moment, I'm going to start printing on RC satin and FB matt, a lot more, so I will report how it goes with these two surfaces when I've tried. Terry S |
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#9
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I am puzzled as to why some find that spotting on RC paper different to spotting on FB paper.
As Ilford have stated, the polythene coating (it's not a resin) is applied to the paper base before it is coated with emulsion so spotting is done on the emulsion for both types of paper. |
#10
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I've been trying to improve my skill at this over the last few days and I can spot an FB print almost with the first or second touch up, but RC? Well that can take half an hour plus before I get even close. The inks or whatever, just seem to soak into FB print emulsion straight away, whilst it doesn't with RC. The only way to understand this is to have a go on the two different papers oneself. Terry S |
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