Bromoil printing

“ The warmer the water used, the longer is the scale of tones, naturally within definite limits.
In bromoil printing it is therefore entirely at the choice of the operator whether he will or will not make use of the long scale of tones which the process can give.
If cold water is used for the soaking, the gradation of the tanned image is much less than that of the oil print or the bromide image. By the choice of a suitable temperature of the water, the short gradation of the oil print with all its peculiarities can be exactly obtained. ”

“ In bromoil printing the gradation can be shortened as described, without loss of drawing, and one can simulate perfectly the short scale and mysterious gloom of night. If the too dense sky of the negative cannot be sufficiently darkened by the use of soft ink, its inking should be postponed till the print is dry. ”

“ A very considerable damage to the bromoil print through the use of a tanning developer might naturally be imperceptible to the eye. Yet this may at times manifest itself in a very undesirable and disturbing form, especially when the bromide paper has been so much hardened in manufacture that it possesses only just the necessary qualification for bromoil printing. It may then happen that the last remainder of swelling capacity can be taken from the paper by the use of a tanning developer. ”

“ It is true that the execution of a bromoil print in polychrome requires complete mastery of the process; an indispensable condition is a perfect command of the handling of brush and ink. Therefore, experiments in polychrome bromoil printing can only be recommended to those who have the monochrome process absolutely at their fingers’ tips.
If a negative is to be printed in several colors, the worker must first be absolutely clear as to his artistic scheme and know exactly in what color each individual part of the print must be executed ”

“ If, however, it should happen, especially when using rough papers, that the shadows do not yet appear quite deep enough, one should print again twice with increased pressure. All the ink which was on the bromoil print will now be transferred to the paper; if the printing was carried out properly the bromoil will look as if it had not been pigmented at all.
It should never be forgotten that the rolls ought never to be so strongly screwed down that they can only be started by great effort; they must always move easily, and with little muscular effort. ”

“ However desirable it might be and however it might simplify the process to be able to use any desired developer in producing the bromide print, to avoid trouble it must be observed that the use of developers which tan the film may seriously influence the result, even though it is possible to get some kind of prints in many cases. If the worker is absolutely sure that the bromide paper which he is using is not strongly hardened and is therefore well suited for bromoil printing, he may undertake development with any one of the ordinary developers which he prefers. ”

“ I had only succeeded in determining that it is very important that the bromoil print should be allowed to dry thoroughly—from six to eight hours—and that then a less volatile solvent than benzol, such as heavy benzine, or best of all, gasoline or petroleum ether, can be used. If the bromoil print is laid on a sheet of paper and moistened with this, then pressure in a printing frame is sufficient in order to obtain a transfer. A machine is not required.
The pictures which I have obtained in this way have not been satisfactory, up to the present time ”

“ If the sky parts of a picture are swollen too much, their uniform inking is not easy. Then it is advisable to ink up the sky only on the dry print, as is suggested on page 112.
Because the tonality of any color, which has already been applied, can be altered with the brush, polychrome bromoil printing affords very great possibilities. Obviously good taste and a sound color sense are indispensable requisites, for without them there is danger of producing the undesirable effects characteristic of certain colored postcards. ”

“ The oil printer does not bring to it anything beyond a brush technique, which is not sufficient for every bromoil print. Everything else must be newly acquired; especially an actual mastery of the technique of bromide printing, which many lack, though they believe they possess it. Conservative thought easily overvalues its own possessions and is likely to [141] show itself somewhat antagonistic to new accomplishments which cost new efforts. ”

“ Repeated slow passage of the press-pack through moderately tightened rollers [164] is always more advantageous than a single printing under very heavy pressure.
Heavy pressure not only endangers the bromoil, since the gelatine film, especially in the lights, adheres to the paper and tears when removed, but the transfer also, because the water, pressed out quickly and with great force, is deposited in the ink in the form of fine globules. ”

“ It may also be remarked that the colors, after defatting, have a somewhat less pronounced brilliancy, as they lose their gloss.
In polychrome bromoil printing, the choice of too small sizes is not to be recommended. The larger the picture is, the larger also are the areas which may be uniformly treated and, therefore, the easier it is to keep within the outlines. ”

“ As the iron developer is not really suited to this purpose on account of certain unpleasant qualities inherent in it, it is advisable to use amidol for the development of bromide paper for bromoil printing whenever possible, and the best developer is composed as follows:
The sodium sulphite is first dissolved in water, and the easiest way is to pour the necessary quantity of water into a developing dish and sprinkle the pulverized or granular dry sodium sulphite into it while the dish is constantly rocked ”

“ For prints and transfers which should show the greatest possible fineness and modeling, it is better to choose a smooth bromide paper.
The prepared print is swollen and pigmented as in making an ordinary bromoil print. It is not necessary, when planning to make a transfer, to produce a higher relief by a warm water or ammonia bath, which requires the use of softer inks and limits artistic freedom in working up. One’s whole attention must be focused on a single point: the shadows must be clean, the lights pure white. ”

“ It would seem permissible to assume that the whole work of dilution with linseed oil could be saved by not adding so much color to the varnish, but by proceeding with the inking-up as soon as the ink is taken up by the brush, but this is not the case.
As I have stated above under “Varnish,” every degree of consistency of the varnish requires a definite quantity of color. If one adds too little color, the paste will be too soft for bromoil printing, and cannot be spread. Too much color is hardly possible with the stiffest consistency ”

“ At first a smeared spot is formed on the surface of the print; by continued gentle hopping the spot is gradually worked out, and by continued working we get a fineness of detail, equal to that of printing-out paper. It is true that even the highest lights acquire a delicate film of ink, so that a print treated in this way is somewhat low in key. If the hopping with the brush charged with benzol is not continued until the finest possible grain is attained, a misty effect may be produced, with some suppression of the finest details ”

“ The finished bromoil print, produced by a perfectly even application of ink over the whole picture by means of successive additions, each thoroughly worked over with the brush, differs from the original bromide print in coloration, structure, more extended gradation, and change in the character of its surface. As the worker is at liberty to stop at any desired stage of the work, he can obtain from the original bromide print, according to his taste, a delicate light-toned bromoil or a very rich and highly modulated print, or any intermediate stage between these two extremes. ”

“ If one has to deal with very absorbent papers, with which, especially in the pure whites, there is always danger that in spite of careful printing the gelatine film may adhere to the surface of the paper and thus spoil both bromoil print and transfer paper, the paper should be given a slight sizing. ”

“ Without question, the worker who intentionally strives for a given artistic effect can attain this easily and certainly by means of bromoil. If, however, he has no definite aim, but allows himself to be blindly driven on, as it were, by the idiosyncrasies of the process, it may happen that he will obtain quite another result. The greater gradation of the bromide print may induce him to keep on working on the picture until he finally obtains a print, which exactly corresponds in tone values with the gradation of his contrasty negative, which could not happen with the oil print. ”

“ Combination Printing with One Bromoil.—It is frequently not easy to reproduce perfectly in the transfer the whole scale of tones present in a given bromide print; or at least in many cases a high degree of skill must be employed. It is consequently often very much simpler to make two transfers from the same bromoil, one being inked up for the light parts, while the other is used to fill out and deepen the shadows. ”

“ A bromoil print correctly prepared, and with swelling suitable to the ink used, is easily recognizable by the fact that the image appears delicately but distinctly under the very first strokes of the brush. If this does not happen even after some time, either the degree of swelling of the print is too low or there is some fault in the preparation of the print, such as, for instance, unsuitable paper, a poor bromide print, errors in bleaching, etc. The longer the hopping continues, the more distinct the details should become. ”

“ Inks of too hard nature are not practicable. Such were necessary in the oil-printing process. In the bromoil process, which is much less sensitive to the consistency [51] of the ink, their use merely means a needless loss of time. An ink of correct consistency is easily taken up and produces quick drawing without smearing, while too hard inks are difficult to apply and soon refuse to take if they are not diluted. ”

“ Any traces left by the cloth, used for drying off, can be easily evened out again by the brush.
By making use of this soaking of the print during the work, the bromoil printer is absolutely unlimited in the time used for his work and is not driven by any necessity for haste. He can continue his work in peace and without hurry, and devote himself to any particular part of his picture at will, without being afraid that other parts will meanwhile lose their capacity for being worked up. ”

“ It is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with the action of the atomizer which is being used; with most atomizers the finest drops, on account of their lightness, fall downwards not very far from the mouthpiece, while others project their finest drops to a greater distance. The sprayed print, which naturally cannot be touched on the film side, must be left undisturbed for a certain period, which must be determined by experiment, for it depends, among other things, on the temperature of the room and the peculiarities of the paper which is used. ”

“ Perfect prints cannot be expected, if the basic print is lacking in quality. If the overexposure is not too great, the print can be improved to a certain extent by clearing it in very dilute Farmer’s reducer. Treatment with this reducer has no deleterious effect on the later processes. The Farmer’s reducer should only be used for a slight clearing up of too dark parts of the bromide print ”

“ Combination Transfer.—The process just described permits the transfer of all that was in the bromide print. If, however, it is a question of improving the inadequate gradation of a bromide print from a long-scale negative, we must use other means. Bromide [166] paper has only a limited scale of tones and therefore cannot reproduce the full modulation of a negative of full gradation. If the details in the shadows are to be retained in such a case, then the high lights will appear bare; if well-modeled high lights are desired, then we risk blocked-up shadows. ”

“ In practice the method of procedure is as follows: there is first produced, on the print which is to be worked up, a relief which is vigorous enough to sufficiently develop all the detail in the shadows. An ink which is fairly stiff for this degree of swelling is chosen; the brush is first dipped in the solvent and then into the ink, which has been thinly spread on the palette. After a few dabbings on the palette the ink solution with which the brush is charged is spread on the print with a hopping motion and distributed with the same brush as evenly as possible. ”

“ The bromoil process, on the other hand, is in its very essence preëminently suitable for work in several colors, and offers all the possibilities which have previously been lacking. Without any special preliminary preparation the worker can apply any number of different colors to one and the same print at one sitting; he can harmonize them to each other during the progress of the work, combine neighboring colors by working them into each other on the print and easily correct any error that may occur. ”