Paper for Albumen Printing

Jonathan R. Richardson (jrrichardson@andover.edu)
Fri, 06 Jun 1997 09:55:19 -0400

I have been experimenting with albumen. The papers I tried have been
Strathmore 500 1 ply Drawing Bristol, Plate finish, Rives BFK and some hot
press water colour papers ( Fabriano, Arches and Strathmore), all of which
coated beautifully, printed great but when it hit the fixer (sodium
thiosulfate) it faded into a gray mist. I tried to size the papers with
gelatin, it was no help, the fogging continued and it added a new problem,
blistering in the wash ( the temp. was consistent ).
The Strathmore drawing has worked the best but it is very difficult
to coat. The second it hits the solutions it curls up into a soda straw. I
have tried folding the edges and it has helped some but it is almost
impossible to keep the solutions off the back.
I have been looking at a great number of Albumen prints and have
noticed that the paper is very thin. Are there any paper equivalents today?

Thanks

Jonathan