[LargeFormat] Amidol: a better way to mix it
Clive Warren
largeformat@f32.net
Sun Nov 24 17:58:00 2002
At 16:28 23/11/2002 -0500, Curt Miller wrote:
>An idea to share.
>
>I take zero credit for this. I was in my friend Shelby's darkroom last
>weekend and he explained his methods for mixing amidol. Shelby's one of the
>finest printers I know and his techniques are the result of years of
>methodical work...so I listened very carefully.
>
>Most of us who use amidol have experienced flying black powder and black
>smudges on our prints. Use a small electric hand blender to mix the amidol
>powder into solution and your problems are over. I bought a Sunbeam brand
>hand blender at Wal-Mart for $10 and used it today for the first time and
>it's great. Should find good use to mix lots of chemistry, in fact.
>Another important procedure Shelby shared was the importance of filtering
>the amidol through a basket-type coffee filter before use.
>
>Using amidol is (almost) as easy as using Dektol now.
>
>
>Curt
Curt,
Thanks for sharing that with us. I will probably be starting to use Amidol
very shortly as there is now some Azo paper winging its way to the damp
shores of England. We now have Wal-Mart here in the UK so there may even be
a similar product on sale locally. Do you find that the mixer introduces
air into the chemicals - do you leave it to stand?
Final question (honest!), do you use Amidol as a general paper developer or
is your use for Azo paper?
Cheers,
Clive