Digital BW, The Print

Hello Paul,

> paper when I applied a coating.  The problem I had with the coatings & 
> methods I was using is that the fibers of the paper continued to 
> occassionally stick out through the coating, making it look a bit 
> funky.  Of course, these coatings take a lot of work, which is a double 
> edged sword.
> 

Coating isn't easy stuff. We have tested several papers and commercial
coatings. The paper must have just the right tooth: too coarse (as
watercolor and most Cold Press fine art) are too coarse and the effect
you described indeed occurs, too smooth and the print looks like resin
coated. Gelatine emulsion is unique as the coating is thick. Its
effect on Magnani Pescia looks very nice. Until not so long ago, I
only printed in the darkroom on graded Ilford Galerie, air dried. I am
liking Carbon-Gelatine prints more than my silver gelatine ones.


> > 2) Protection of the print (gelatine based emulsions are not permeable
> > to water)
> 
> I fade tested a coated matte paper print where the fader was sitting in 
> a pan of water.  The idea was to try and get the humidity up as high as 
> possible.  One of the major criticisms of accelerated fade testing is 
> that the process dries the pigments, thus exaggerating the life.  
> 
> The results of the fade test were interesting.  The coated print faded 
> about 20% more than the un-coated on.  My hypothesis is that the water 
> vapor was getting in through the back of the coated print and being 
> held there, whereas the un-coated control print was allowing the 
> moisture to quickly evaporate off the front of the print.  Note that I 
> am not suggesting that this test replicates the real world. 
> 
I believe your test results make perfect sense if you have used
commercial (i.e. synthetics) coating. In fine art, most of the coating
are natural (like linseed, gelatine, etc.) as they allow the medium
underneath to transpire.

> 
> I'm curious how you're applying the coating.
> 
This is a complicate process that we are still trying to perfect. We
needed the assistance of a machin shop to make appropriate tools. It
is time consuming, also: it take us longer to make a Carbon-Gelatine
print than a silver gelatine print in the darkroom.

BTW, we got the website fixed. Thanks for your  notice.

Mantinieri and Daniela
www.mantinieri.com