26 Years and $6000 later: The Legacy of Christina Z. Anderson.
THE MASSIVE PAPER CHART STORY: an interview to Christina Z. Anderson
Paper was of interest to me from the beginning of my alternative process photography journey. Perhaps because of a BFA in painting I was keyed into surfaces on which we make art. Painting gravitated me towards “alt pro” in the first place. Alt pro, especially gum bichromate, was amethod of photography closest to painting, allowing all kinds of artistic expression.
Gum bichromate is not really paper picky as long as the substrate can withstand multiple soaks in water. Other processes are. Almost all papers nowadays are buffered with alkaline calcium carbonate to make them more archival. Alkalinity may be good for paper longevity but it interferes with alternative processes, especially cyanotype. Cyanotype will print dull blue gray and fade in the presence of alkalinity during processing and even in storage.
When I started writing books on alt pro I did some paper testing and had a paper chart in the firstbook (2013) of about 35 papers, but it wasn’t until 2018 when writing Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice that I really began my extensive testing with both classic and new cyanotype with different developments—water acidified with vinegar, citric or sulfamic acid—and how that affected a paper’s exposure time, exposure scale (how many steps print on a step wedge from maximum black to paper white which relates to contrast), and Dmax (how dark the process gets on a paper). I tested 136 papers in all, and close to 100 ended up as keepers.
I expected those results would be the same across the board for all alt processes, so when I taught a semester-long palladium class, I was quite surprised to find out that some papers that performed well for cyanotype did not for palladium and vice versa. With the palladium process it wasn’t only a question of alkalinity then. Thus began another round of paper testing, this time with palladium. I found that palladium, although sensitive to buffered papers as is new cyanotype, is not quite as sensitive.
Some papers that required pre-acidification to work well with new cyanotype did fine with no pre-acidification in palladium. Some papers that did not require pre-acidification for new cyanotype required it for palladium. I surmised other factors aside from alkalinity must be involved, like paper absorption, paper sizing, and paper’s ability to retain humidity. I published an article on papers for palladium here in 2019.
Papers did not follow predictability yet again when I taught a semester-long chrysotype intensive class in 2021. This resulted in another round of paper testing. I figured I would stop there with these four processes.
I ended up with a document here, a spreadsheet there, so 2024 I decided to combine all information into place. Since I love Excel spreadsheets, that was my choice.
I assumed that would be a small project but of course not. It was a feat. First I had to return to all papers. Which ones no longer existed? Were there new ones now available? What had I not tested, if any? This also required repurchasing many papers ($2000 in 2024 alone).
As I was compiling and retesting, I realized I really needed to see how salted paper printingresponded to paper similarly.
I wrote Salted Paper Printing in 2017 but never tested paper for salt at that time. Salt had enough problems of its own so when I was writing that book I played it safe and stayed with only papers made for alt—Hahnemühle Platinum Rag (my personal favorite), Arches Platine, Bergger Cot 320, and Legion Revere Platinum. Thus another slew of paper testing, actually three rounds, because salt severely reacts to buffering with terrible brown fog. I didn’t want to give a paper a bad rap if there was a simple solution, which there is—citric acid added to the salting solution. I retested every paper with 20 g salt, 15 g citric acid, 1000 ml water and all my fogging woes went away.
I breathed a sigh of relief when salted paper was done and sent off the sheet to Malin Fabbri at alternativephotography.com for online publication. Malin carried my very first rudimentary manual, Experimental Photography Workbook, on her website two decades ago and because of her, my book, and then books, sold in over 40 countries, and then I became editor of the Contemporary Practices in Alternative Process Photography series here and the rest is history. So the massive chart located at alternativephotography.com here was a way to give her what I consider a useful piece of research in return for her kindness to me starting two decades ago.
Malin and I planned to upload future iterations of the chart if and when I tested other processes or needed to update the original, but it was tricky trying to figure out how to notify those who had purchased the paper chart. We agreed it would be too confusing, and frankly, the chart really needed vandyke brown and argyrotype added to it (I don’t practice kallitype, ziatype, albumen, etc. and Don Nelson has excellent paper testing charts in his book Kallitype, Vandkyke Brown, and Argyrotype already). Then the chart would be done once and for all.
There are two versions of the paper chart, a free one and one with a nominal cost of $15.
The free chart describes each paper composition and then has a list of which processes the paper is good with. It’s just the bare bones facts, and many alt practitioners, especially those starting out, want just that.
For the more dedicated and serious alt printer, the full chart is much more extensive (though perhaps mind-numbing). It is especially useful for those who know how to use Excel.
♦ You can Format/Column/Hide and only display the process you are interested in.
♦ You can Format/Row/Hide and only display the papers you are interested in.
♦ You can View/Freeze First Column and scroll through processes with the paper column remaining visible.
♦ You can View/Freeze First Row and scroll down through papers.
♦ You can also File/Select Print Area and print out only what you want after certain columns, or rows, are hidden.
The paper chart provides information to draw conclusions, too. Some conclusions I have drawn, aside from I will never do this big of a project again (try switching out chemistry for seven different processes for 100+ papers! Who the hell is going to do that?):
♦ Never assume a paper that is good for one process is automatically good for another. Test one sheet before buying a batch, and do buy a batch because changes occur at the manufacturer level that are not shared with the public—e.g. Bienfang used to be 100% cotton and is no longer.
♦ Most paper has increased in price since I started this project, 30%, some up to 70%; my guess is raw materials, labor costs, and politics are responsible.
♦ Many papers have gone by the wayside as have a number of paper mills like Zerkall which made great papers.
♦ It is always good practice to stick with papers the made for alt: Hahnemühle Platinum Rag (HPR), Bergger Cot 320 gsm and 160 gsm, Arches Platine 300 gsm and 145 gsm, Legion Revere Platinum, and Ruscombe Mill’s Herschel Platinotype. These papers will betrouble free, are archival, 100% cotton (or linen in the case of Herschel). Plus, these companies have invested in us! The paper I use for my own work is HPR because it generally exposes faster, prints darker, retains moisture very well, and is at a middle of the road price point.
♦ It is one thing to print cyanotype or vandyke brown with abandon on all sorts of inexpensive papers: coffee filters, grocery bags, newspapers, or pad papers from big box stores. The chemistry is cheap! When printing the more expensive processes like palladium at 20¢ or chrysotype at 41¢ a drop, I become a paper snob. I use 100% cottonor linen papers only (unless using, say, a kozo washi or a vellum 100% alpha cellulose).
♦ I will never again print salted paper without some form of citric, whether citric acid or sodium citrate, added to the salting solution.
♦ I will never again print cyanotype without paying attention to humidity and using some form of acid development; you will get a longer tonal range, better highlight detail, and greater Dmax.
♦ I will always use humidity when printing vandyke brown and argyrotype and lots of itbecause those processes produce better Dmax, less silvering out, and less washoff when humidified.
♦ If all of a sudden a paper starts performing poorly when it used to be fine first assume your climate has changed. “Paper problems” crop up often in the winter months when the air is dry. It is usually not the paper batch. Check your climate or your practice. When a problem crops up I first and always first assume I have done something wrong. Apparently this is not common practice among other humans!
Hopefully the paper chart for alternative processes will provide research for other people to make conclusions. It is not perfect. I’m sure there are spelling and grammar errors and someone will say a paper is excellent for such and such a process when I found it not so good. YRMV—your results may vary! There are too many variables in alt printing that affect outcomes, at the very least one’s climate. The chart is just a starting point, not gospel. But if I can make one person’s alt life run more smoothly, and at least save them money and maybe even tears, I’ve done my job!
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