Have we not all dreamed about packing up, installing a portable lab and taking off? Richard E. Baker actually does it. Follow this series of his 3,000-mile-long road trip across the USA where he will be making kallitypes in his portable lab in his car. Writer and photography / Richard E. Baker Links to all the chapters in the Kallitype Roadtrip: Kallitypes roadtrip #1 – Preparation for the 4 week … Read more
Edited by Jacques Kevers Photography by Dante Cappellani and Cezar Popescu This articles is a complilation of notes from the Picto Benelux group, edited by Jacques Kevers on the iron-silver processes: Kallitypes, Vandyke brown and Argyrotype. I – Let’s not confuse… The main processes being part of the iron-silver family are the Kallitype, Van Dyke Brown, and Argyrotype. And no: Calotype is not part of them. It even doesn’t have anything … Read more
The Special Edition Art Project was created to afford photographers and artists practical access to the creation of wet-processed photographic prints. This photographic processes user guide focusses instruction on classic B&W silver gelatin printmaking as well as the historic light-sensitive iron based Siderotypes processes of Cyanotype (iron), Vandyke Brownprint, aka VDB, (silver / gold), Argyrotype (silver / gold), and Ziatype (palladium / gold / tungsten / platinum). Writer and photography / … Read more
This detailed paper survey is the Special Edition Art Project effort to document how papers behave when paired with historic Siderotype processes used in our coastal California working environment. The Siderotype processes Cyanotype (iron), Vandyke Brownprint (silver) aka VDB, and Ziatype (palladium / gold / tungsten / platinum) are the focus of this survey, creating an assessment of a paper’s image density across exposure corrections, amount and type of grain, … Read more
Van Dyke Brown Printing, is nearly identical in simplicity, low cost technique but yields a rich brown color as opposed to the blue of cyanotypes.
The chapter called “Vandyke brown” of Sarah Van Keuren’s book “A Non-Silver Manual: Cyanotype, Vandyke Brown, Palladium & Gum Bichromate with instructions for making light-resists including pinhole photography”.
Elizabeth Graves examines the effects of ageing on the "blue vandyke" process.
Kallitype process: A silver-iron method for making permanent prints in gold, palladium and platinum metals by Sandy King.
Argyrotype is a user-friendly iron-based silver printing process that produces brown images on plain paper. It is derived from the Argentotype, Kallitype, and Vandyke processes of the 19th Century, but has greater simplicity, improved image stability, and longer sensitizer shelf-life.
Photographers’ Forumlary has developed a kit to introduce you to Kallitypes without having to take a degree in chemistry. Read instruction sheet
Elizabeth Graves tries out the Kallitype printing kit from the Photographer’s Formulary and gives us a couple of good tips.
As they are similar in their make-up, many confuse Kallitypes with Vandykes (also called Vandyke Browns) and even Argyrotypes. Wynn White clarifies things for us in this overview. Recipes for the fixer is also included.
