Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry S
My print from my negative is finally going in the post today to Paul C.
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Finally received this morning. In your letter you mention having a small difficulty with spotting - For your print, I think I'd have gone for a Spotone No.3 (had you used No.1 by chance ?).
When preparing the dye (ink?), I use an
eight well palette. A drop or two of Spotone goes in the left well and each well to the right gets a progressively dilute mix - This is left to dry and when it comes to using, a dab of water in the selected well is enough to rewet the colour. Once the brush has picked up the dye, the sloping area below each well is used to remove much of the colour as well as providing an opportunity to test the shade - Using the finest of brushes (typically an 000) and a jeweller's loupe, a tiny spot is applied to the print. It is always better to use a lighter shade from the palette than you think is needed - The spot can be darkened by applying further spots of a lighter shade. Don't try to build up too much colour in one go, let it dry down a bit before going back.
As for clammy finger prints in the darkroom - I use a box of cheap vinyl gloves when handling paper (the cotton gloves are reserved for dry negs). Glove on, paper on the easel, expose, dunk in dev/stop/fix/water. Glove then goes in the bin ready for the next print. No more finger prints or damage/contamination from tongs.