Several years ago, I was gifted an unopened pack of 11x14 Arista Ortho Litho Film 2.0. At the time, I had no idea what it was or what to do with it. But now, a few burgeoning ideas and a whole host of practical limitations (i.e. time, space, money, tools, equipment) have converged to remind me of that abandoned pack. I’m feeling very curious to see if I can do what I think I can with it.

Curiosity is an activator. It bumps up against my pain and fatigue and yelps into my existential hollow.

My goal was to create continuous tone (meaning not just black and white) positives from 4x5 negatives with materials and equipment I already had. So I did some rabbit-hole style internet research on litho film and formulated a plan to turn the pantry into a darkroom. I chose the pantry because, although small, it has a door that shuts out most ambient light, a small countertop beneath a wall-mounted cabinet, and just enough room for me to stand. 

Step 1: Cut Down Film Sheets

Luckily, litho film can safely be handled with a safelight. On Day 1 of the project, I cleared enough space on the countertop for a cutting mat, ruler, and craft knife, turned the safelight (powered by an extension cord run under the door) to the wall behind me, and shut the door. I decided that I would slide the litho film under the negative in its protective mylar bag to contact print it. So I cut 6 full size and 2 test strip size pieces from one 11x14 piece of film and placed them in a small lightproof bag I had saved from a box of 4x5 film. I stored that bag into the 11x14 film envelope so that I could further light-proof it and keep all the litho film in one place.

Step 2: Set Up the Darkroom

On Day 2, I maxed out my under-the-door extension cord, using it to power the
enlarger timer, a darkroom timer (for film processing), and safelight. I’ve never made my wet and dry sides sit right next to each other, but it was time to see if they could get along.

A diagram of the pantry set-up in my notebook.

Dry side:  I decided to use a regular old hardware-store-classic clamp work light to expose my film, so I plugged it into an enlarger timer to have a bit more control over the exposure time (notes on bulbs to come). I opened the cabinet doors wide and clipped the light to the top shelf, directing the light straight down to the counter. My contact printing setup consisted of a thick, unused rayon chamois placed directly on the counter, covered with a heavy sheet of glass. I rolled up a small piece of non-slip material and placed it on the counter near the wall opposite me, as a place to prop up the glass when not in use. I cut down a piece of cardboard to use for test strip intervals and kept it near the enlarger timer to the right.

Wet side: I put my trusty GraLab timer on the left side of the countertop, against the back wall, and set up several small processing trays on paper towels, one each for developer, stop, rinse, and fix. In the laundry room next to the pantry, which is not dark, I put an upside-down milk crate in the utility sink, on top of which I set trays for final wash and Photo-Flo. Through the kitchen and down a hallway, I hung my film drying bag (a plastic hanging garment bag I found at a thrift store plus curtain rings with clips and some paper towels in the bottom) on a doorway pull-up bar in the office doorway. Even though it’s located pretty far away from the utility sink, I chose it because film takes awhile to fully dry, and there’s less risk of it being in the way/getting bumped there.

The only chemistry I had to mix was developer, because I already had the other two ready to go. I used Ilford Ilfotec HC, which is a standard film developer, at a 1:50 dilution, which I had found as a recommendation in a forum. I noted the temperature of the developer, which was 66° F.

Step 3: Expose and Process

Here is the negative I decided to use. Ilford HP5+ developed for cyanotype printing, in Bostick & Sullivan D-19 developer at a 1:4 ratio for 14 minutes at 62° F.

The negative: HP5+ processed for cyanotype printing with D-19 developer.

My first test strip was a shot in the dark, and I tried 3 second intervals with a 40 watt/120 volt/ 355 lumen bulb. They were very overexposed. So I moved the clamp light higher, clipping it to the top of the cabinet, and tried 1 second intervals. All sheets developed for 6 minutes.

Test sheet: 40w/120v/355lum bulb; 1 second intervals; developed 6 min. in 1:50 Ilfotec HC @ 66°F

So I tried a 1 second exposure at this setting.

40w/120v/355lum bulb; 1 second exposure ; developed 6 min. in 1:50 Ilfotec HC @ 66°F

It looked pretty good! I was somewhat shocked that it worked so soon into the process. The developer dilution seemed okay, the paper wasn’t fogged despite having been stored in a barn in Turlock. Promising. But this was a fairly dense negative, and a 1 second exposure is a minimum. Not very flexible in terms of exposure. So I decided to try a less powerful light bulb. Luckily, I had a CFL bulb from a vintage contact exposure kit that was rated 15 watt/120 volt (no lumen marked). I tried another test sheet with the new bulb, in 1-second intervals.

Test sheet: 15w/120v bulb; 1 second intervals ; developed 6 min. in 1:50 Ilfotec HC @ 66°F

And then, a 2 second exposure.

15w/120v bulb; 2 second exposure ; developed 6 min. in 1:50 Ilfotec HC @ 66°F

That was all the film that could fit in my dryer, and I was feeling tired, achy, and satisfied anyway. I broke down the setup and washed up, so that the pantry could resume its everyday role as accumulator of piles/holder of sundries.

A Few Notes:

•  After they dried, I noticed that the hand-cut sheets were slightly too large to fit in my 4x5 negative sleeve pages, which was bummer. Fortunately I had an abundance of aforementioned plastic protective sleeves for contact printing. Unfortunately, this is an organizational nightmare.
• My multipurpose plate glass has scratches that are visibly noticeable on the positives. Dust is also relatively unavoidable. Does it matter? Not if I say it doesn’t.
• I should wear sunglasses AND close my eyes AND turn away from the lamp when I’m exposing with a regular light bulb in a darkened room. Chronic palinopsia is already more than enough to deal with.
• The pantry was dark enough that I didn’t have to cover the processing trays as I developed the film. I had been concerned about this after my preparatory research, but it turned out not to be an issue.
  
• One of the “benefits” of processing film by safelight is being able to look at the negative as it develops to determine when it is done. I don’t have experience with that so I just set a timer for 6 minutes and agitated the first 30 seconds, followed by 5 seconds every 30 seconds or 10 seconds every 60 seconds. It worked fine.
  

I’ve been experimenting with cyanotype at home because it is a relatively straightforward, non-toxic alternative process. There isn’t room for a darkroom setup in this apartment, but a heavy piece of plate glass and a drawing board that I can fashion into a solar contact printer don’t take up too much space.

However, I dislike Prussian blue photographs. So I’ve begun trying various toners to see what kinds of effects are possible with non-toxic materials. I documented the most recent session to share here.

I created two different toners: green tea and onion skin. I made highly concentrated formulations of each.

How much onion skin? As much as would fit in this pot. I wrapped the onion skins in cheesecloth and boiled them in water until the liquid turned a deep orange color.

7 bags of green tea create a concentrated toning solution.

As the toners cooled, I set up my trays like this:

Here’s my setup for the process, which moves left to right. Not pictured: the final water bath.

Some Notes on the Process

-The prints became much brighter during their pre-soak in the first water bath, with details returning that had been lost during dry-down. It’s helpful to remember that they will dry down again. 

-Prints turn a purplish-gray in the bleach bath. They return to cyan by the 2-minute mark of the stop bath. Color shifts from the toner baths may take longer.

-A bleach time of 30 seconds worked well for most prints. I tried bleaching overexposed prints for a minute to see if it would reduce enough to brighten the final image, but ultimately, those that were overexposed stayed that way. 

-I left prints in the green tea toner for four hours, and in the onion skin toner for two.

-I set up this print washer on a milk crate in our utility sink. I did a final wash of 45 minutes, shuffling the prints every 15 minutes before hanging them to dry.

My collapsible drying system: a folding clothes-drying rack and clean, cyanotype-only clothespins.

Results

The green tea has a violet influence on the cyanotype emulsion you can see in the above image, which was taken while the prints were still wet. It creates deep eggplant to black tones, depending on the paper used, toner temperature, and duration of the soak. Less staining occurs with green tea than with black tea or onion toners, especially on certain high-quality papers.

This was my first time using onion skin toner. While the prints were still wet, I hated the bright orange stain imparted to the paper. But–it mellowed as it dried, resulting in a warm, deep golden background color. I really like the deep brown, almost black tonality I achieved with the onion toner.

With cyanotype toning, I suggest not judging your print until it’s dry.

Before and after onion skin tannin toning a 4x5 contact print on Arches Platine

Before and after green tea tannin toning a 4x5 contact print on Arches Aquarelle.

Before and after green tea tannin toning 4x5 contact prints on Arches Aquarelle.

Before and after green tea tannin toning a 4x5 contact print on Arches Platine.