if you have questions and no one has answers
try to answer the questions yourself
in the case of photography, that means spend the time and do a bit of experimenting.
I’ve been working on recreating direct positives with a camera, like the mandelette ferrotype did, for years, but using things I might grow in a garden or have in my kitchen or laundry room.
I know, ilford makes direct positive paper, but sometimes it’s hard to find, and importing anything from outside the country seems to cost more than im interested in paying. I know I can do silver gelatin tintypes, or classic reversal development too, but I’d rather tinker.
what I’ve done so far:
dry plate ferrotype, dry plate ambrotype
wet plate, tintype, ambrotype
permanganate / classic
hydrogen peroxide and vinegar
sabatier / solarization/ pre exposure
I know it’s a lost cause but I really only want to use benign ingredients, who needs the added stress of dealing with harsh chemistry, not me!
I went this direction when I started using caffenol, and doing cyanotypes. I’d rather not have to deal with lots of different chemistry, just things I might find at the dollar store. photography is expensive enough without paying excessively for materials that do the same thing. hydrogen peroxide turns into water when it’s old, and it’s only 3% and nothing to worry about. coffee, well that’s a no-brainer, baking soda, and vitamin C … and making cyanotypes only washes out iron so there’s no problem there. the fixer I run through a trickle tank 3 times and it removes anything that might be an issue, then I reuse the fixer. I digitally remaster everything I make so the film or paper print might just be an intermediary / internegative.
I figure the world is going to end in a fireball, so why does anything I make have to last to the end of days, it really doesn’t matter anyways.
