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Sequence viewing > Index - Alternative Photo Emulsions - Resource - ©
Lloyd Godman
Alternative
Photographic Processes - (Hand
made photographic -emulsions and processes)
Processes
- Brom etching
Brometching
from c.1935
Discovery
1935 Brometching is a method of treating bromoil paper so that the
resulting picture shows the texture of the paper, reminiscent of an
etching. Richard Lluellyn first described the process in an article
published in Amateur Photographer in 1935. This article was probably
written soon after the process had been discovered. Earlier references
to brometching, some as early as the 1890s probably refer to another
process by the same name, in which lines were drawn over a print in
waterproof ink, then the silver was bleached out, leaving a result
similar to an etching. Recent Work Brometching Kit Kentmere produced
products for the Brometching process in the 1940s. They continued
to be sold until the 1990s. The products were an "Etch-Bleach" kit,
to be used in conjunction with "Kentint" papers. Brometching Today
Brometching is still being carried out today [2003] by at least one
worker, Sri Lankan, Dr Dustan Perera, living in London. He is also
planning to write a documentary on the Sri Lankan artist, musician
and photographer who was a brometching worker in the 1930s. Process
1. Produce an overexposed print - six times the normal exposure. 2.
Develop fully for 50% more than normal time 3. Rinse 4. Make an etching
solution of salt, sulphuric acid and potassium permanganate in water.
[The Amateur Photogrpaher article gives fuller details] 5. Apply the
etching solution in stages until the brightest highlights are practically
cleared of silver. 6. Wash until the wash water no longer has a pink
tint. 7. Fix in an acid fixing bath. During the process, care has
to be taken to ensure an even action of the etching solution. Result
Brometching pictures show the texture of the paper on which they are
printed, and so resemble an etching. They have rich charcoal black
tones. The process produces its most impressive results if rough or
very rough paper is used. The picture, being 'etched' into the surface
of its paper, appears to have more depth and believed to have greater
permanence than a normal bromide photograph.
http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1/1_early_photography_-_processes.htm
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