Creating Albumen Paper

Albumen prints

Presented in this paper are the procedures for making your own albumen prints. This is an involved, fairly time-consuming process but requires skills well within the abilities of the average person. If you are patient and interested in the time-honored technique of producing your own hand-coated paper, then you can easily master the art of albumen printmaking.

Starting point

A well-presented albumen print begins with high quality paper. Lightweight papers (stationery stock or slightly heavier papers) are better for producing albumen (or other POP) prints than heavier stocks, but the paper must be sufficiently sized to endure prolonged wetting and should contain no impurities which could stain or otherwise contaminate the emulsion. Several manufacturers produce 100% rag papers suitable for creating albumen prints, notable examples are Cranes (Kid Finish 32#, Platinotype or Parchment Wove 44#), Arches (Platinotype) and Strathmore (500 Drawing). These papers or acceptable substitutes can be purchased from Bostick & Sullivan, Photographer's Formulary or most art supply stores. Try to avoid heavier stock, as the paper will absorb the albumen coating, causing prints to lose sharpness due to the emulsion's being embedded in the fibers of the paper, rather than resting on it.

Ingredients

Sizing/salting solution Sensitizer

Preparing the albumen

To double coat 50 sheets of 8.5X11 paper, you will need about 500-ml of egg whites. Separate the eggs, avoiding getting yolk, shells or chalazae (the stringy white stuff) in the whites.


The high-tech kitchen lab

Pour the 500-ml of egg whites, 2-ml of 28% acetic acid, 15-ml of distilled water and 15-g of ammonium chloride (sodium chloride or kosher/deiodized table or sea salt may be used as an alternative to ammonium chloride) into a large glass bowl. Additionally 15-g of sodium citrate may be added as a preservative. This is not necessary if you will be using your albumen mixture within a couple months and will be using your newly-created paper shortly thereafter.


All the ingredients

Beat the mixture with a whisk (an electric hand mixer will make this much less tiring) for a minimum of 30 minutes. The mixture will become very meringue-like but will not stiffen. The longer the mixture is beaten, the finer the suspended air bubbles will become until nothing is left but a fine froth.


KitchenAid makes life easy

After beating, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in a refrigerator overnight. The mixture will settle, leaving a dirty froth on top. Remove and discard the froth,


Scooping off the dirty froth

and filter the remaining albumen (approximately 350-ml of a surprisingly free-flowing liquid) through cheesecloth, folded two or three times,


Straining the mixture through cheesecloth

into a clearly labeled glass jar with a plastic lid. Adding a drop or two of a wash aid such as Kodak PhotoFlo will help prevent the formation of bubbles on the surface of the paper at time of coating. Age the mixture in a refrigerator for a week or so to further denature it. This is your sizing/salting mixture.


The final product

Coating the paper

Pour the albumen into a glass casserole dish. Scrape away any tiny bubbles, which will probably have formed on the surface of the liquid. Place a sheet of paper, front side down, on the surface of the albumen. (Look for the watermark while holding the paper up to a light. If the watermark reads correctly, you are looking at the front side of the paper.) Float the paper on the mixture for three minutes. The edges of the paper, which will curl up and away from the surface of the liquid, can be pushed down SLIGHTLY to ensure proper contact. According to Farber other methods that can be used to prevent paper from curling include:

Care should be used to not get any albumen on the back of the paper, as this will cause an undesirable print-through effect in the final product. As the paper floats on the mixture, the curled edges will relax to fully coat the surface of the paper. After three minutes have expired, use a toothpick to lift one corner of the paper, and lift the sheet from the surface of the albumen, allowing the liquid to drain.

Hang the paper lengthwise, blotting off any excess as the coating dries. A toothpick works well to pop or scrape away any surface bubbles and to squeegee the thick edge, which will form at the bottom of the paper.

Double coating

Double coating, though not required, produces prints with a glossier finish, more even coating and greater density. This process increases the level of difficulty of creating albumen prints, though the final product is worthy of the extra effort. The first albumen coating should be hardened before applying the second using one of the following methods:

To double coat the paper using an isopropyl alcohol/salt hardening solution with the albumen formula given, use the following method. After the single-coated paper has dried, immerse it for 15 seconds in a solution of 70% isopropyl alcohol with 3% ammonium chloride added. This will harden the albumen for the second coat. When the alcohol has evaporated (fully - otherwise the second coat won't stick), float the paper on the surface of the albumen mixture once again following the previously described procedure. The recommended salt concentration corresponds directly with the concentration of salt in the albumen coating. (Since 70% isopropyl alcohol will leech salt from the albumen, the same concentration must exist in both solutions.)

Without this hardening step, the first albumen coating would otherwise wash away with the second coating. Hang to dry from the opposite side for even results, blotting away any excess along the bottom edge. The paper will probably curl severely; it may be straightened in a warm mounting press.

Sensitizing the paper

Coated paper will keep for several weeks if sensitizing is to be performed at a later time; however, it is best to sensitize the paper as soon as it is dry. Wear rubber gloves unless you want brown/black/purple stains on your fingers, fingernails and/or clothing. Silver nitrate will react with the salt of your skin to form silver chloride, just as it does on paper, and will "develop out" in a matter of a minute or two in sunlight. Wearing safety glasses is also recommended, for silver nitrate can cause permanent damage if even a small amount is splashed into the eyes. All of the following techniques may be carried out in subdued (incandescent) room lighting. Avoid fluorescent lamps and other sources of UV light.

In an amber glass bottle with a plastic top mix 37.5-g of silver nitrate with 250-ml of distilled water to make a 15% solution. Initially the solution will be cloudy due to the reaction between the silver nitrate and the salts and minerals in the water. The precipitate will settle overnight and is of no consequence. Store the sesitizer in a cool, dark place.

Method 1 - Floatation coating

Pour 15% silver nitrate solution into a flat-bottomed tray. The glass casserole dish used for albumen coating will work but MUST be cleaned thoroughly after use if food is to be ingested from it. WARNING: Ingestion of any heavy metal can be toxic; it is best to dedicate lab ware to these procedures. Float the coated paper on the surface of the solution for three minutes, avoiding air bubbles. Peel the paper from the surface, and hang to dry.

Some salt will inevitably leech from the paper surface, reacting with the silver nitrate solution and forming a precipitate which will eventually settle on the bottom of the coating tray and storage bottle. This is the major drawback to this method - waste. As more and more chloride ions saturate the silver nitrate solution, it will become darker in color and less effective. Some of this potential loss of silver nitrate can be combated by allowing the solution to sit for an hour or two after completing sensitization, perhaps while making a print or two, to settle the precipitate. While slowly and carefully pouring the liquid back into its storage bottle, forego the last few milliliters, preventing the heavier precipitate from being mixed with the solution. Filtering off the precipitate after every use will go a long way toward extending the life of the silver nitrate solution.

Method 2 - Glass rod/brush coating

Tape the albumen-coated paper to a sheet of plate glass with drafting tape. If the negative to be printed is smaller than the paper lay the negative on the paper and lightly mark off the corners with a pencil. Use these marks as a guide for coating.

Transfer 45 drops (for an 8x10; use a proportional amount for other sizes of paper) of 15% silver nitrate solution in a plastic medicine cup. The small condiment cups used by fast food restaurants are perfect. Optionally add 9 drops (for 8x10; use a proportional amount for other sizes of paper) of gum arabic solution, which will aid in spreading the emulsion. Mix the solutions by swirling them in the cup. Use a brush without a metal ferrule, which silver nitrate will rapidly react with, or a glass coating rod to apply the solution to the paper. A coating rod, also available from Bostick & Sullivan or Photographer's Formulary, is the preferred device for spreading the emulsion, since creating streak-free papers is rather difficult, though not impossible, with a brush. The addition of gum arabic will give the solution an oily appearance, making seeing and spreading the coating easier.

To brush coat tip the glass, to which the paper has been taped, at a 45 degree angle and paint the silver nitrate coating from top to bottom, drawing the brush from one side to the other, overlapping each stripe by about half the width of the stroke. Recoat the brush after each stroke.

To coat with a glass rod lay the plate glass, to which the paper has been taped, flat. Pour a "bead" of silver nitrate solution on the paper along the edge of the glass rod. Lifting the rod just slightly from the surface of the paper and wiggling it slightly will cause a capillary action to draw the solution along the length of the rod. Lower the glass rod to the surface of the paper, and swipe it across the paper. At the end of the paper lift the rod slightly from the surface of the paper, and swipe it across the paper in the opposite direction. Performing this operation several times will ensure a smooth, even coating. If the sensitizer is absorbed by the paper too rapidly, the paper is not sized well enough to coat using a rod. Either try another brand/type of paper, pre-size the paper, apply another coat of albumen, or use the floatation method of sensitizing the paper.

The paper may be air-dried or blown dry while taped to the glass or may be carefully removed from the glass and hung to dry.

Method 2 - Wash coating

Tape the albumen-coated paper to a sheet of plate glass with drafting tape. If the negative to be printed is smaller than the paper lay the negative on the paper and lightly mark off the corners with a pencil. Use these marks as a guide for coating. Tilt the glass plate about 45 degrees for coating.

Add 3 or 4 milliliters of 15% silver nitrate to a small test tube, and stuff a wad of cotton snugly into it so that a third of the wad protrudes from the end. Tilt the test tube to allow the solution to fully saturate the cotton.

Hold the test tube at a right angle to the paper, and starting from the top left corner, lightly "paint" a streak of solution across the top of the paper. When the right edge of the paper is reached, paint a streak in the opposite direction, making sure that the streaks of solution overlap slightly, spreading the bead of solution, which gathers at the bottom of each stroke. Continue this pattern, right-left, left-right, right-left, until the end of the paper is reached. The paper will have a uniform coating and will show no evidence of streaking when done correctly. Air or hang dry. Remove the cotton with tweezers and discard.

Notes

Bibliography

Farber, Richard. Historic Photographic Processes. New York: Allworth Press, 1998.

Schaefer, John. The Ansel Adams Guide|Basic Techniques of Photography Book 2. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998.