SALT PRINTING EXPERIMENT

FORMULA:

Mixing 20g Ammonium chloride with distilled water or tap water to make 1L liquid

Mixing 10g Silver nitrate with 100 ml of water

FIXING

1st wash 3 min

1st fixer 3 min

2nd wash 3 min

2nd fix 5 min

final wash 30 min under running water

Salt paper or salt paper is a photographic positive material, copying paper. After several experiments, the practical version was developed by William Fox Talbot in his experiments with the calotype and was widely used after its patent in 1841. It was also used as a positive material for other negative images, so its use continued after the Talbotypic era; often used for painted photographs.

High-quality letterhead was soaked in chloride-salt solution and dried, and one side was treated with a solution of silver nitrate before use to form a photosensitive layer of silver chloride. It was exposed from a negative in a copy frame by contact copying, and the image appeared brown on it when exposed to light. It was then fixed in sodium thiosulfate solution (other substances were initially tried for this purpose). After the invention of gold coloring, this operation was added to the process to increase the durability and color of the image. However, it is one of the least durable photographic materials most sensitive to environmental damage.

SALT PRINTING ON PAPER TEST

EXPOSURE UNDER UV LIGHT 4 MIN

SALT PRINTING ON FABRIC TEST

EXPOSURE UNDER UV LIGHT 4 MIN

PRINTING FIRST T-SHIRT

FINALS

Since I did not have the desired results with liquid light technic on the glass I had to have a plan B in case of negative results. So I decided to create 4 t-shirts in the salt printing technique. This time after the first print I was very happy but I was betrayed by the poor quality of the acetate which after printing the negative started to lose colour and this had a negative impact on the final result as you can see in the pictures. The last image is made on a quality acetite and the image appears on the shirt very clear compared to the others. The exposure times were identical to the fixing process. NEVER USE CHEAP ACETATE!

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Evaluative comments:

As in other techniques, it is very important to coat uniformly the solutions. Another fact what I discovered is that not evert type of acetate is good, and this is valid for all the materials: better quality means better result.