It’s good to be printing again, it’s been a while, not least because I haven’t produced anything worth printing for some months. But that changed in May, and I managed to carve out some time in the last two weeks to work on three 16x12 prints from our Lewis trip — just finished this morning with some spotting that one of the prints required. 🙂

One of the prints was pretty straight forward, but the other two were tricky.

One of the awkward ones was the kind of a print where I end up going in circles between a touch lighter and a touch darker versions, unable to decide. On past experience, six months later I can’t tell which one is which without a detailed examination, but when immersed in the process, it seems like a really big deal.

The other was just difficult to get to the way I visualised it, with a very awkward dodge I could only manage by turning the easel upside down, which turns out to be suboptimal for getting the paper in, so I ended up with a couple of really squint prints, and at least twice managed to dislodge the easel while getting the paper in (in spite of it being taped down). In the end it took a half a dozen or so unsatisfactory versions before getting there, but I am chuffed with the way it turned out.

While at it, I decided to change the way I dry prints. I used to dry them loose on drying racks, and then press them flat later. This works pretty well, but it takes about 2-3 weeks to press them flat, and I can only do about six at the same time. So I decided to start taping them down onto glass to dry instead.

This is a time tested technique that I recall my mother used donkeys years ago, and that I know some accomplished contemporary printers use as well: the print is briefly dried off on a rack, about 10-15min, then laid down emulsion up on a sheet of glass, and taped all around the edges with an old-fashioned gummed paper tape. Once dry, you carefully cut the tape off the glass and then trim the whole thing to get rid of the tape. (The drying print exerts a fair force on the glass, so toughened glass is best; toughened glass panes for a greenhouse are perfect for this.)

I have experimented with this before, but my previous attempts weren’t entirely satisfactory when working with bigger prints, plus I have always begrudged having to trim off some of the margin (I even tried using modern sticky tape instead of the gummed one once, thinking I could then peal it off, but that was a total disaster, as not only the tape didn’t hold, but I was left with a nigh impossible to remove glue on the print).

Anyway, it turns out, it’s all about the quality of the tape, when the tape is well gummed with good quality glue, it only needs about 2mm overlap with the print edge to hold it securely down, and I have stumbled on just such a tape at the LION Picture Framing Supplies (they also sell a dispenser for gummed tape, which is of a very simple, robust construction, and makes working with the gummed tape so much easier).

I have now also got a hang of how to place the tape so that it only cover the 2mm or so, which makes the trimming of it a non issue.

Also, after years of dithering and cutting my prints with a Stanley knife and a steel ruler, I decided to get myself a cutter. I have always been drawn to the traditional guillotine design, but as I want to be able to use it under safety light in the darkroom, and don’t want to lose any fingers, I decided to get one of those with the wheel.

After some research I settled on Dahle 554: it can cut up to 28”, from what I understand it’s made in the Czech Republic rather than in China, I saw a very positive review on some other photographer’s blog, and managed to find it at very good price at that place we don’t mention in polite company. And now I really wish I had got one years ago.

Anyway, I need to head back to the darkroom to tidy up a bit and drain the washer, lest I forget, and things start growing in the sulphite compartment!