Re: Processing giant pinhole paper negatives - was Re: Vey quiet lately

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You have far more patience than I could even imagine, Guy.  Making a print so large, however, would be a wonderful learning experience and the final print, an amazing achiechevement.
 
My hat is off to you.
 
Marilyn
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"Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever."
                                                                                               Margaret Cho
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 6:15 AM
Subject: Processing giant pinhole paper negatives - was Re: Vey quiet lately

 
----- Original Message -----
 

A fascinating project, Guy.  I seem to remember you telling us how you processed these huge prints, but I don't remember.  When you have time, could you remind me, please?
Marylin,
 
There are a few pictures of the making of the first ginant pinhole project back in 2002 at the following URL
 
(Note that this was my first experience with giant pinhole paper negatives.  I  have since improved considerably my technique to get much more balanced prints with a great deal of intermediate greys and a lot less vignetting than shown here.  I have pretty well given up on trying to get a decent positive from the giant paper negative through contact printing.  But if someone asked for a positive with a sufficiently attractive proposal, I would of course go ahead and make one...).
 
One picture on the web page referred above  shows the giant 5x10 feet processing trays we used at the time. These were handmade from construction timber and heavy-gauge plastic.  They required 100 liters of chemical...!   I've since moved to a much simpler process where the paper is rolled and unrolled in a "wall-tapestry" sort of tray requiring much less chemistry.  This time around, I hope to access a darkroom that specialises in very large format processing and where I would not have to worry about the processing.  This would make my life easier.
 
The thing to be particularly careful is not to crease the paper, since a crease will kill the print as far as gallery or museum acquisition.  When wet, fiber paper becomes as soft and floppy as a ragdoll and that makes the whole processing process very challenging.  Drying is also very challenging.  If I can access a large studio, I will try to suspend the print from the ceiling for drying.  This is the best way.  But drying on a screen is also good.  In all instances it is hard to find a place where you can hang-dry a large number of giant prints...
 
Guy

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