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Historical photographic methods in use today – the art, processes and techniques of alternative photography

I use a (cheap) stonehenge PS (that's what it says at the store) and then boil it to size once then coat it with gesso. I find that you lose the paper quality that Formaldihyde gives you but the whites wash much cleaner and like that more.

To determine pigment strength i get out a large unsized sheet and then weigh out 1.0 gr of the pigment and add it to 10mL of Casein make two swatches on the paper.

Then i add between 3-5mL of casein, mix, and make two more swatches. I try to make two neat rows writing down the ratio between the swatches. I go all the up up to 60 or 70mL (depending how washed out the pigment is looking) then allow the whole thing to dry.

When dry i soak it for 30 min and observe which level has washed 'clear.' I then take out my brush and lightly (yeah right more like scrub) the one row of swatchs to see where the 'manipulated' level of pigment to casein ratio.

This gave me a ratio of 1.0 gr of WN Lamp Black to 65mL casein ammonia.
Theisen recommends "WN Lampblack to 50 cc of the Casein"

He also says he can get a deeper range in his prints as well.

cheers,

I feel frustrated because I did not log on to this thread over all this time. Casein printing is one of my favorites. This is just a short message, because I don't know whether any of you is still interested, but I will answer to any questions. I also once wrote an article on my technique in the postfactory photography journal.
A few of my casein prints can be seen at http://www.photographie.de/magazin/werth.cfm
One is a chrysotype printed over with casein.
I use the casein from Kremer, dissolving it with ammonia, dissolving 0.8 g casein in 10 cc household ammonia (european, about 9%).
Lukas

Thanks Lukas for the tip on store bought casein. Those prints look amazing! I will certainly have to try store bought casein. Making casein out of powerdered milk seems to be too unpredictable for me at the moment. I'm not currently printing images (waiting to set up a studio in the spring/summer) but i will certainly try it out.

Much appreciated. If you have any tips or techniques (or books to suggest) please share. I would love to get a better handle on the technique.

-kendrick

I'm taking the plunge! I just returned from Santa Fe where I met a bunch of other alternative processors and came home enthusiastic to try more processes.
Having left teenagers to fend for them selves with their father...I found my house an absoulte wreck but with one bonus!!! several full glasses of nice casein curd! and I decided to try out a few concoctions that I found on the web. I vaguely remember my grandparents making milk paint when I was a kid so I picked their brains for info on making fresh milk casein. Armed with new info from the internet and wise advice from my grandmother I now have 100ml of nice smooth ammonium caseinate.

Tomorrow I'm going to add pigment and see what I get. Wish me luck!
Windy