Kallitypes & vandykes

Richard Bakers van for roadtrip

Kallitypes roadtrip #1 – Preparation for the 4 week trip ahead

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

Dante Cappellani

The iron-silver processes

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

Preparation & use for Siderotypes: Cyanotype, Vandyke Brown, Argyrotype, Ziatype, and the silver halide process of B&W silver gelatin v.1.5

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

Siderotype Paper Survey: Cyanotype, Vandyke Brownprint, Ziatype v1.0

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

Sarah van Keuren

A Non-Silver Manual: Vandyke brown

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”.

Vandyke print: Succulent, Pacifica, California, 7/20/90

Vandyke notes

Wynn White’s description of the Vandyke process with variations.

Ruins at Montauck. 7×17 Gold toned Kallitype from a 7×17 in-camera negative. 2001. Montauck, New York.

The Kallitype Process

Kallitype process: A silver-iron method for making permanent prints in gold, palladium and platinum metals by Sandy King.

Argyrotype print inspection

Argyrotype process

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.

kallitype vandyke vdbrown argyrotype

Formula overview for Vandyke, Kallitype and Argyrotype

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.