I can’t even remember clearly when was the last time we went to Indonesia. The file names from the instagram picture are telling me 2018. So I’m browsing through some of the insta pics again, and start a series from that past trip. Here we got one pic from Yogyakarta, and two from Bali. The quality is not so great as what is acceptable on the tiny screen of your phone is clearly awful on a large computer screen. The cyanotype process tends to blur a bit the issue, but that’s not the best. I’ll have to get rid of picture I really like in terms of composition.
Cyanotype on Hahnemühle Moulin du Coq Le rouge, toned with a mix of instant coffee and yerba maté.
While browsing on FB, there’s this guy in the cyanotype group who uses the paper moulin du coq – le rouge. AS he got some very good results, I decided to give it a try. Best deal I could find was a block of 100 sheets in 24×32 cm. So it better works in the end :). Bottom line is that I don’t think I’m gonna go back to the usual bristol I was using before. The texture is not so smooth, and you have to acidify it beforehand, but the extra step really worth it.
Here I got an example toned in a mix of mate and coffee. I did a very short bleaching set first (just a few seconds) so the Prussian blue actually turn to a more dark purplish color.
It’s Monday, Easter Monday. Here it’s a day off. Weather is cold and cloudy. Kids are busy playing, and I have no plan whatsoever. In the back of my mind, I had this idea of setting up a wet plate collodion session as I have some new fresh chemicals. But nothing is decided. In the end, the trigger will be the kids not asking for specific attention. There I go to the darkroom and start to set it up. first that long pointy rock that I’ve found the day before during a hike. I like to put it next to a small boulder. Ok we have a first simple composition, let’s go with that. Then put the tray in place, and the chemicals. This time it’s easy, I have bought a premix collodion, some developer, and even some fixer. the silver bath was filtered a few days ago just in case. I managed to get 3 plates before someone called me out. Then after dinner I could not resist and went back. Put some music on remove the watch, and I was in this place with no time. This is a very addictive process, and it requires a lot of training. I’m still at the early stages. The plates are not yet clean enough to my taste. But I’m getting some results that I really like. Here the scan is a bitch for sure as it reveals every tiny spot of dust that you won’t really see on the real thing unless you come close with a magnifier. And there are still some plates that sucks. Actually the more it went, the worse it was. I have learned that I need to clean my plate holder between each plate. And also use a second bottle to pour the surplus of collodion so it does not contaminate the main bottle.
Here are he 4 best plates.
And another 4 that are far beyond. There are another 2, but I will just not scan them as both exposure and development are wrong. In these 4, based on information from experienced people, when it’s getting greyish, it would mean lack of exposure and over development.
