1st & 2nd Pass Lith Printing

As mentioned in the former post I dived into the second pass lith printing thingy. This means exposing the paper like normal, developing in standard bw-developer, stopping, fixing, rinsing, bleaching the print in a sepia bleach bath, rinsing, re-developing in Lith. Below I’ll describe how I did it, which chemistry I used, which papers etc. and the only thing you’ll have to pick up from this post is NOT to do it like I did now. It didn’t quite work out the way I anticipated it, mostly because of lack in technique.

Papers used:
* Ilford MGW.1K, fiber based warmtone paper
* Ilford MGT.44M, PE based warmtone pearl paper
* Ilford MG ART 300 paper (their new stuff)
* Ilford IB0.26K, Ilfobrom expired grade 0 paper
* Ilford IB4.26K, Ilfobrom expired grade 4 paper
* Rollei 131, fiber based warmtone paper

Chemistry used:
* 1st pass standard bw-developer Amaloco AM6006 1+9
* 2nd pass Moersch Easylith developer 1+1+24, + 50ml old brown in a total bath of 2 litres
* Sepia Bleach home-made: 100 gr Potassium FerriCyanide & 100 gr Potassium Bromide to 1 litre of water
* Amaloco S10 stopping bath 1+19
* Amaloco X89 fixing bath 1+4

Other variables:
* Temperature of lith developer +/- 30 degrees Celsius
* No MG filters used when exposing the paper
* Bleaching time approx. for all prints: 3 minutes

I think I screwed up on a couple of points. First of all, I used to many  different kinds of paper. This was my first try-out with bleaching and redeveloping it would’ve been smarter to just try one or two papers, take it from there and when I feel I got it a bit under control, try more papers. But, as I don’t have that much time, I figured the more the merrier. Well, not always 😉

Secondly, I’ll try a different 1st developer as it’s supposed to have an effect on the outcome after the 2nd development. I will try Agfa’s Neutol WA next.

Thirdly, I noticed a lot of stains, stripes and the like turning up during the 2nd pass developing. According to Tim Rudman’s book this is due to sloppy technique (which is quite possible) or bad rinsing, pollution etc. I rinsed too many papers in a too cold a rinsing bath because of my urge ‘the more the merrier’ so I screwed up there I think. Also, I didn’t hypo the prints after fixing. I though a decent rinse would be just as effective for this testing phase. I should know better.

What I didn’t like about the redeveloped prints is that they don’t have the coloration I wanted, they remain pretty much black and white, like before I bleached them. Perhaps that has to do with the amount of time I redeveloped them? Too long for the strength of the developer? Maybe I bleached the prints too long?
And I will try the SE5 as the 2nd pass lith bath. It’s the bath I want to go work with in the future so what’s the point anyway with using the Easylith when I know I want to switch entirely anyway.

It’s a whole new world which I will go back to this afternoon. I hope the new tryouts will be a bit more of what I’m after. I’ll be using the paper Ilford MGW.1K and if I can find the time, also the MG ART 300. Agfa Neutol WA as 1st developer and SE5 as my second. I’ll reduce the bleaching time to about 1 minute to see what that changes. Anyway, not all at once 😉

An example of a bleached print before re-developing in lith

Ilford MG ART 300
7s exposure time | no filter
AM6006 normal bw developing (BORING) | 1:30 minutes | 20 degrees Celsius

Ilford MG ART 300
40s exposure time | no filter
Amaloco AM6006 normal bw developing | 1:30 minutes | 20 degrees Celsius
1st pass Easylith 1+1+24 | 1/2 Old Brown | 4:25 minutes | 30 degrees Celsius

Ilford MG ART 300
7s exposure time | no filter
AM6006 | 3 minute sepia bleach
2nd pass Easylith 1+1+24 | + 1/2 old brown | +/- 30 degrees Celsius

Ilford MG ART 300
7s exposure time | no filter
Amaloco AM6006 normal bw developing | 1:30 minutes | 20 degrees Celsius
2nd pass Easylith 1+1+24 | 1/2 Old Brown | 8 minutes | 30 degrees Celsius

The rest of the images really isn’t worth posting. I don’t even know what to make of them..let alone make them into a comprehensive something. I’ll slowly back away now and lock myself up in the basement for some more juice 😉