Alternative Photography Instruction Manual for workers who make Silver Prints or Silver Images on stones, eggs, canvas, wood, metal, cloth, tiles, glass, plates, glazed ceramics. Silver Emulsion Problems and solutions, how to Improve Speed and Contrast and Suppress Fog and Degradation of Liquid Emulsions. How to Use, Repair and improve Liquid Light Sensitive Gelatin Silver Emulsions. How to increase speed of photo emulsions. Problems of the liquid light sensitive gelatin silver emulsion process and its solutions. How to Use and Understand the Photographic Liquid Emulsion Process, How to make tests on Liquid Emulsions for Chemical Fog, Age Fog, and Gelatin Degradation. Technical Information for Artists. How to harden the gelatin in emulsions to stand long wet processing times.How to improve contrast and how to add antifoggants to improve photo quality.

 
  Saul Bolaños
  Has  conducted  independent research most of
  his life on applied Visual Art and Science. He is
  an Authority in Liquid Silver Emulsion Chemistry.
  An Artist and Inventor of Several Novel Printing
  Processes, among them Silver Halide Coffee Art.
  About his Inventions on Alternative Photography
  See   Silver Halide Coffee Art

Liquid
Silver Emulsions

Liquid Emulsions have several known common problems.
Solutions or Remedies to these Problems are given below.

The first Problem is Fog,
-Chemical Fog inherent of the Liquid Emulsion itself.
( not Developer fog, or Fog caused by UnSafe light )

the Second Problem is Frilling
-The emulsion leaving its support in the processing baths.

the third Problem is Biodegradation
The spoiling of the silver salts vehicle, The Gelatin,
which as any food is prone to spoiling. Note that the decomposition products and micro-organisms of
degraded gelatin can also cause fog, loss of contrast
and frilling.

Commercial Liquid Emulsions have still more problems
than the ones mentioned above because Liquid Emulsion Manufacturers have failed to invest in research on how to stabilize their Liquid Emulsion or because They simply do
not care to.

Emulsion Speed and Contrast in Liquid Emulsions are far
from being stable, speed (sensitivity) is continuously
changing while emulsion is in a humid liquid form.

Often speed and contrast are unpredictable in Commercial  Liquid emulsion. They vary not only from batch to batch or from lot to lot, but from bottle to bottle. Much depending on
the "storage experience" each individual bottle has lived during its lifetime ( diverse shipping and storage conditions)

Excessive heat or drastic frequent temperature changes during storage, besides changing speed and contrast, can also produce Fog. 
-Age Fog, the silver grain grows to undesirable size and it
will be developed ( in the developer bath) spontaneously without any exposure to light. The whites in the developed pictures  which should be dazzling white in a fresh good
liquid emulsion, show only as brilliant grays at best.
This alone is also another contrast reducing factor.

Even if liquid emulsion manufacturers add antiseptics to
their Liquid emulsion, The gelatin can also begin to spoil under unfavorable storage conditions, half degraded gelatin will loose its mechanical strength., it will become weak, will frill when coated and will also fail to protect the silver grain against other types of chemical fog occurring when the
silver halide is in humid condition for a long time,
(as in liquid commercial emulsions)

On the other hand Most Liquid Emulsion Users are not
serious artists. They give up too soon in the first sign of
failure. If you do not want to be a victim of bad batches of Commercial Liquid Emulsions, and want full control, then either you use LUCENTA LIQUID EMULSION or Make the emulsion Yourself.

If you are serious artist and are beginning to experiment
with Liquid Silver Emulsions, WELCOME !
Le me tell you, There is no other Medium promising more versatility and chances of success in a career as an artist
as the Liquid Silver Gelatin emulsion Process. Once
Mastered, it has no rival. Your chances of gaining
recognition as an artist are 1000%, unless you are lazy.

There is no liquid Silver Nitrate bath to blacken the skin
of your hands, The Liquid emulsion is non toxic and
odorless. Material coated with Trouble Free Fresh Liquid Emulsions have a Long shelf Life and well processed 
images can expect to last for hundreds of years. I have
silver chloride and silver bromide  pictures done in the
year 1885 in perfect conditions.

Judging as how the masses have embraced digital photography today, It can be stated that the Liquid
Emulsion process has been elevated to the status
of a higher Art.
If you coat your own Light Sensitive Material and Make
your own Photographic paper with Liquid Emulsions,
You are  practicing what is called by some:
Alternative Photography.

If you are using commercial photographic paper
as your medium, then you are not practicing
Alternative Photography.

But sooner or later the practice of any photographic
medium which is alternate to the one practiced by the masses. (any photo process which is not digital ) will eventually become "Alternative" This becomes more
true now that most major silver based photo material Manufacturers have already closed their factories.
They are disappearing and very fast.

Common
COMMERCIAL LIQUID EMULSION PROBLEMS

HOW TO CHECK
FOR GELATIN BIODEGRADATION

1.

TESTING LIQUID EMULSION
WHEN STILL CHILLED AFTER
TAKING OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR

Open Liquid Emulsion Containers only in Darkrooms
illuminated by adequate Safe Light. Open it very far from
the light as you can.
OTHERWISE YOU MAY HAVE TO CONTENT WITH LIGHT FOG.

If Liquid emulsion was kept Under Refrigeration. It should
be a very hard solid. If it is not a hard solid, the gelatin is
or has begun to spoil. Shake the Bottle...

if you can hear Liquid Moving inside the container. The
Gelatin has spoiled. Before a Chilled, cold stored, gelatin solution spoils, it begins to liquefy as the coagulating
Protein decomposes. Open the container in the darkroom,
if it smells bad, throw it away, Too late. nothing can be done.

if the chilled liquid emulsion, however, is a hard solid
(as it should be) It is almost Certain it is in a Healthy
Condition, But to learn how to check for beginning
signs of spoiling or gelatin Biodegradation in Liquid
Emulsion do this:

Inspect the surface of the emulsion, there should not be
mould or spots on the surface which should be of an even
milky white color. If there is mould, but the emulsion is
still a solid gel, you can still save it as follows: Scrape
the mould with a plastic or stainless steel spoon...

If you can not coat the emulsion immediately
(recommended) after scraping off the mould, To avoid
mould in the future, as an antiseptic cover the solid
chilled liquid gelatin emulsion with about an inch above
its surface with ethyl alcohol which is the type people
drink...

(Gelatin solutions or liquid silver emulsion invariably begin to
degrade by the appearance of Mould, at first there is only spores
or small black spots on the surface, these penetrate deeper into the gelatin solution  and degrade it completely by totally liquefying it
even if the gelatin is a chilled as a hard solid stored
under refrigeration)

...place the liquid emulsion back in the refrigerator,
Use as soon as possible. Before use, take the alcohol
off the surface while emulsion is still in the chilled solid
gel state and before liquefying by heat. Alcohol will not
mix with gelatin solution as long as the the latter is in
solid chilled state.

2.

TESTING LIQUID EMULSION FOR
GELATIN BIODEGRADATION
WITH EMULSION AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

Gelatins in Liquid Emulsions
Before advancing, note that liquid emulsion manufacturers use either
"SOFT" or "HARD GELATINS" or mixture of both. The average concentration used per every 100 ml of liquid emulsion is anywhere
from 7 to 10 grams of gelatin seen as dry weight.

LIQUID EMULSION PRODUCED WITH SOFT GELATIN MELT
AT AROUND; 26-27c
MEDIUM HARD GELATIN SOLUTIONS MELT AT
AROUND: 27-29C
AND HARD GELATINS MELT AT AROUND: 29-30C


Take liquid emulsion out of the refrigerator. If it is in a
liquid state it is spoiled, if it is a solid  (as it should be if
healthy) Let it come to room temperature
for 24 hours. Do this to examine its mechanical
strength in Un-refrigerated chilled conditions.

Leave it in a cool place away from heat sources or
sunlight of course, for 24 hours. Check the room
temperature. Liquid Emulsions with healthy gelatin
should be a solid if room temperature is under 25c.
( If in liquid form at 25c, it is spoiled or beginning to be)

-At 20c or below it should definitely be a hard solid gel.
(if not, the gelatin in the liquid emulsion is spoiled)

- at 22-24 c it should be a semi solid gel.
(if emulsion is liquid, the gelatin in the emulsion is probably
spoiled)

-at 25-26c a soft gel, or beginning to liquefy.
-at 27-29c or over this temperature the gelatin should
be passing into a a full liquid state.
at 33-35c. the gelatin in the emulsion should be
(given enough time) as Liquid as Water.

3.

MELTING THE LIQUID EMULSION
BEFORE COATING
TO TEST FOR CHEMICAL FOG

Liquefying - Not necessary to melt the whole of the
emulsion, Take out only a portion of it and Liquefy it by
placing it inside a glass or stainless steel container.
Heat   the container holding the portion to be tested
in a hot water bath at 40-45c.

Give it time.   60 ml ( 2 ounces) of  solid emulsion, in
good heat conductive vessel like glass or stainless steel
should completely melt in about 5 minutes...

( Make a habit of never heating liquid emulsion above 50c. for
longer than 5 minutes.  Commercial emulsion about to expire
may develop fog in less than 30 minutes at that temperature.
The same expired liquid emulsion may however hold good for
5 hours without fog at 45c , and may even be heated 15 hours
at 40c without much fog. 40c is a normal coating temperature.
Emulsion will be in liquid form to spread easy.)

.Coating Coat watercolor Fiber paper with a soft brush
charged with the emulsion liquefied at 35-40c.

(water color paper can resist hours
of washing, does not fog silver emulsion and anchors even half
spoiled gelatin very well, for those reasons it is the ONLY
recommended medium for beginners to test emulsions on)

Drying Dry coated liquid emulsion protecting the paper
from exposure to the safelight,IMPORTANT place a board between the safelight and the paper in a manner that the
board shades the coated paper from direct hit of safelight.

( During forced rapid drying of light sensitive material, This is the
correct way to dry any coated material in the darkroom, MAKE
IT A PRACTICE AT ALL TIMES, You want the purest whites the
emulsion can yield and remember, you are testing for emulsion
fog, all other sources of fog must be avoided, It is also strongly recommended that you shade the paper in the same manner
while it is the developer solution, after having exposed it )

Coat again, for maximum blacks give the paper a
second coat. Dry again very well by placing paper about
10 inches in front of a current of COLD air coming from
a fan.

If you use hot air, on the coated emulsion when it has
not yet lost most of its water, it will melt the gelatin
causing the emulsion to run uneven on the paper surface.
You will have uneven tones on development. Grays on
those areas where the paper has thinner silver content
and blacks or darker grays where the silver content is
higher.

Divide now the paper coated with the liquid emulsion in
several strips and keep these in total darkness until
needed for testing.

To be Fair, a Recently coated commercial liquid emulsion, or
any other freshly prepared liquid emulsion will be too soft to
process immediately after drying. The risk of frilling is very high.
The gelatin will gain strength to withstand wet chemical
processing, only after 24 hours after the coating has dried,
and to be exact

The gelatin will be firmer still after 48 hours, which is the
recommended waiting time at the end of which most applied
liquid commercial gelatin emulsion will take the alkali attack
of the developer very well without too much swelling of the
gelatin. For some liquid emulsions formulated with a
"soft gelatin" type which tend to develop less fog on long
storage, waiting 72 hours after the coat has dried before
processing, may be better still.

Excessive swelling of the Gelatin is one of the reasons it leaves
its support (frilling) the other common reason is poor
pre-preparation of the material. Glass for example requires a first
class substrate to hold the emulsion in place during wet processing
even with the best of fresh gelatins.

Another words you do not coat liquid emulsions on glass or glazed
ceramics with out a subbing layer or substrate because more often
than not the coated film will float off or tear by the time it reaches
the acid stop bath.  (see the LUCENTA MANUAL for excellent sub
formulas)

Paper, because of its fibrous nature can anchored recently coated
emulsion quite well with out any substrates. If in the following tests emulsion frills when processed 24 hours after the coat has dried,
simply waiting another 48-72 hours before processing the coated
emulsion may be the solution to avoid frilling for that particular
type of liquid emulsion.

4.

TESTING COATED EMULSION
FOR CHEMICAL FOG
AND "FRILLING"

After the coated or applied liquid emulsion has dried
on the paper.( preferably after 24 hours ) By in actinic light,
and very far away from the recommended safelight, cut a
piece about 1 inch square.
Block the paper from direct hit from safelight with your
body at all times. Place a coin on top the sensitive side
of the paper.

a) Expose under an actinic light source ( white light)
for a few seconds. Careful not to fog any other coated
light sensitive material near by.
Now take the coin out of the paper, and process the
exposed paper blocking it from direct hit of safelight at
all times.

b) Develop the paper by immersing it completely
under the developer solution agitating all the time.

Process or develop the paper in any Paper Developer, Like
Kodak's Dektol Paper Developer diluted I:2 with water.
For critical testing Developer temperature should never be
above 22c. To be safe develop at 20c.
At 24 c all developers reduce considerable quantities of
unexposed silver halide grains, causing slight fog,
THIS IS KNOWN AS DEVELOPER FOG.

-Develop Pure Silver Bromide or Silver Bromo-iodide Liquid gelatin
Emulsions for no more than 2 minutes.

-Develop Chloro-bromide Liquid Silver Gelatin Emulsion for no
more than 1.5 minutes.

-Develop Pure Silver Chloride Liquid Gelatin Emulsions like
LUCENTA SILVER CHLORIDE, for no more than 30 seconds.

After developing the paper for the required time as given
for the particular type of liquid silver emulsion, Transfer
to a stop bath.

C) Acid Stop Bath
Use a 1:250 glacial acetic acid stop bath during 3o
seconds. ( not stronger, emulsion may leave support if too
strong, change bath frequently to avoid yellow stains)

D) FIXER
Use a hardening fixer ( powder type)
during 10 minutes with frequent agitation. Do not
overwork this fixer to avoid yellow and brown patches
appearing in the pictures with time. ( when processing for
archival permanence  and important work Use only fresh fixer
as a last fixing bath, so future generations can see your work )

E) WASHING
Wash the material for  10 minutes without out violent
agitation to avoid damage to the emulsion. Do not use
violent water jets. Wash carefully preferably in 6 changes
of still clean water, each change lasting 5 minutes is
enough for 90% of all materials.


F)INSPECT FOR FOG Check for fog, Inspect the
whites on the developed paper under the coin, and
compare with the whites of the same paper but without
coated emulsion. if the whites are pure enough, there
is no emulsion fog. If the fog is only minimal, reduce
developing time about 25%, that should give cleaner
whites.
If the whites are gray, Liquid Emulsion has Fog.Continue to the
next Part of this page and add the antifoggant either to the
emulsion or to the paper developer as directed.

INSPECT FOR FRILLING If the gelatin on the
emulsion resisted all the wet processing time without
tearing, without coming off the paper or did not suffered
serious damage and held firmly on it,  the gelatin
in the emulsion is clean and healthy. No degradation. If the
results are not definite. Wait 48 hours and process
another coated paper strip in the same manner,
emulsion then will be firmer.

If the gelatin floated off the paper, or it was damaged during
the time it was in the developer, or it was damaged in the stop
bath, before it reached the fixer, Bad news.
The gelatin employed to formulate the liquid emulsion is
either too soft or it suffered organic degradation. In such case
Continue to the next Part of this page, prepare and add the
gelatin emulsion hardeners to the liquid emulsion as directed.
If the gelatin held good even in the hardening fixing bath but
it was damaged only after washing, Try processing again
after 72 hours after the coated emulsion has dried.
Emulsion Hardeners You may add any of the liquid
emulsion hardeners given below to the liquid emulsion to
improve its adhesion and mechanical strength even if the
gelatin is healthy without any biodegradation. LUCENTA
Antifrilling composition number 1, is highly recommended for
long wet processing times.

If you want to make a photographic paper developer as good or better
than Kodak Dektol see formula given in page 3 of the
LUCENTA EMULSION MANUAL. a Hardening fixing bath for photographic
films and papers that you can make yourself are also given.

Alternative Photography workers and artists will find the Information
on next paragraphs extremely valuable, it will help you make silver
prints and silver images of the highests quality. All formulas have
been tested and used at The LUCENTA™ CAFEGRAFIA ® LABS.

How to make
your own

Photo Emulsion

with only

Lucenta Gelatine
and silver nitrate

see below

Alternative Photography Emulsion How to Make it Yourself
how to make your own 35mm negative film or plates

Additions to Improve
Liquid
Gelatin Emulsions

The quantity of any of the compositions given below to be added to the liquid gelatin emulsion may be critical. In excess the chemicals may become a problem  instead of a solution. Use gloves and avoid breathing chemical dust when weighting on the scales.

The Liquid emulsion improvers may be added to any type of liquid light sensitive gelatin emulsions, like silver bromide, silver chloride, silver cloro-bromide, silver bromo-iodide photographic emulsions.

Start with dosage given. Test if the Liquid emulsion problem has been corrected or the emulsion has been improved with the dosage below, if not increase the dosage until it has. Read the warning under each corrective composition.

All additions are made while stirring the melted liquid emulsion and mixing completely. Melt the emulsion in hot water bath at 45c before making the additions.

The corrective liquid emulsion compositions found below can be used by itself or in combination with each other to correct a liquid emulsion fault or defect, for example, a liquid photographic emulsion exhibiting two defects,

1: it has fog,
2: it also tends to frill off the support when coated;

in such case, potassium alum may be added to harden the emulsion gelatin and also potassium bromide, to clear the fog, or instead potassium alum, chrome alum be added as an emulsion hardener and nitrobenzimidazole as an anti-foggant. The liquid melted photographic emulsion may also be dosed with an antiseptic at the same time.

When varying the quantities of liquid emulsion, Vary also the amount of the corrective chemical but keep the same proportions given. All compositions keep for many years even if stored in bottles not completely full.

For adhesion of liquid silver gelatin emulsions to glass, plastics, glazed ceramics, etc. you need to apply a subbing layer on the material before coating the emulsion.
see page 1 OF THE LUCENTA SILVER EMULSION MANUAL.

_______________________________________________

1.

Liquid Silver Gelatin Emulsion Hardener,
Use AGAINST FRILLING OF LIQUID EMULSIONS
or to harden the gelatin in any healthy good liquid emulsion
to avoid gelatin emulsion damage during processing or long washing times.
Anti-frilling composition number 1

Prepare
a 5% Solution of potassium alum:

Potassium Alum ...................... 5 grams
Glycerin................................... 5 ml
Hot distilled water.....................100 ml

dosage: 2 ml, per every 100 ml of emulsion melted at 45-50c

The glycerin is there to avoid excessive hardening of the gelatin. Without it, the hardened gelatin on long storage would repel the developer solution with probable loss of contrast. Blacks would not be maximum. Over hardening may also cause up to 100% loss of emulsion speed for the same reason.
Full emulsion hardening with the dosage given is only effected after 48-72 hours after the coated liquid emulsion has dried on the material. It should resist, after that time, (with careful processing) fixing in a plain fixing baths without hardeners
.
If not, increase the dosage and test after 72 hours. If you change brand of liquid emulsion you may have to re-test to find the optimum dosage for the new type gelatin.
Uncoated emulsion may be stored in liquid form after the addition of anti- frill composition number 1, and the gelatin can be re-melted as normal.

_________________________________

2.

Strong Liquid Silver Emulsion Hardener
Use this composition on liquid emulsion which show a great tendency or a high degree of frilling, or where the gelatin has begun to bio-degrade or spoil floating off its support during processing.
Anti-frilling composition number 2

Prepare
a 5% solution of chrome alum:

Chrome Alum........................... 5 grams
Hot distilled water.....................100 ml

dosage: 1 ml, per every 100 ml of emulsion melted at 45-50c

Chrome alum is by far a much more energetic as an gelatin emulsion hardener than Potassium alum. Double the dosage given if necessary. But be Careful, too much will make the gelatin as thick as chewing gum.The hardening effect of Chrome alum can be seen immediately after the coated liquid emulsion has dried on its support, It will withstand the wet processing much better. But its maximum hardening effect can only be attested after at least 72 hours. (read below)

Excessive chrome alum ( more than 2 ml x 100 ml of emulsion) will not allow the liquid uncoated emulsion to be re-melted as usual in a hot water bath, if this happens, then the dosage of chrome alum is too excessive. Above dosage should be a good very safe start.

Excess of chrome alum will also make the liquid hot melted emulsion thicken, to make it thin you may add to every 100 ml of liquid emulsion about O.5 ml of glacial acetic acid. If this happen you better coat it all while it is still in its liquid hot melted phase, and process it as soon as possible. The coated emulsion may be so over-hardened it may loose emulsion speed and some contrast for same reason given above under
anti-frill composition number 1.

WARNING:
effects of over hardening of the liquid emulsion can really be seen after the coated emulsion has been in the dried state for about 7 days, image will not develop even under the developer solution. If this happens, pre-soak the material for 1-2 minutes in plain water before immersing it in the developer solution, and, reduce the emulsion hardener dosage of course.

________________________________

3

Mild Liquid Emulsion Anti-Foggants, Use
AGAINST fog on LIQUID SILVER EMULSIONS
Add it to the developer, to the emulsion, or to both.
Anti-fog composition number 1

Prepare
a 10% solution of Potassium Bromide

Potassium Bromide.................. 10 grams
cold distilled water.................... 100 ml

Dosage:
1 ml, to every 100 ml of working developer solution,
should be about right for mild emulsion fog. Double the amount for a stronger fog , if that does not  clear the fog off the whites of the picture add the potassium bromide to the emulsion also.

emulsion Dosage:
begin with 1 ml per every 100 ml of melted liquid emulsion with That addition of potassium bromide ( kbr ) to liquid emulsion with kbr present also in the working developer solution, most mild fogs should be cleared.

Excess of potassium bromide does not have any adverse effect on the gelatin, but it may reduce emulsion speed considerably. It is better to have less emulsion sensitivity without fog, than more speed with fog which always degrades the whites of the pictures lowering also emulsion contrast.

To suppress or eliminate a heavier emulsion fog while at the same time raise the emulsion contrast use anti-foggant number 2,  as found in next composition.
Nitrobenzimidazole is a powerful anti-foggant.

_________________________________

4

Strong Liquid Emulsion Anti-Foggant,
AND CONTRAST IMPROVER
Use AGAINST fog on LIQUID SILVER EMULSIONS
Add it to the developer, to the emulsion, or to both.
Anti-fog composition number 2

Prepare a 0.5% solution
of 5-6, Nitrobenzimidazole nitrate
also known as (kodak) antifog # 2

5-6,nitrobenzimidazole nitrate... 0.5 grams
boiling distilled water..................70 ml
ethyl alcohol............................... 30 ml

stir for as long as it takes for the benzimidazole to dissolve completely . It may take a long time.

DOSAGE:
per every 100 ml of melted liquid emulsion start with 2 ml,

coat dry and test. the whites should be very clean with a marked increase in contrast. If not, duplicate the dosage and test again.  Excessive dosage of benzimidazole has no adverse effect on the gelatin, but it will reduce maximum emulsion speed with a dramatic gain in contrast for most emulsion types. If  emulsion looses too much speed, reduce dosage.

on silver chloride gelatin emulsion like LUCENTA CHLORIDE, even small optimum dosages may shift the developed tone from a neutral black to a blue black.
Note that Lucenta emulsion will never need this anti-foggant liquid emulsion improving composition, because it is always fresh and it comes in dried form without liquids or solvents to degrade it on storage.

Benzimidazole is so effective as an anti-foggant and contrast improver that most of the time it is not necessary to add it to the emulsion, enough if added to the developer solution only.

DOSAGE:
start with 1 ml, per every 100 ml of working developer solution.  Reduce dosage if emulsion speed is considerably lowered, increase dosage if fog is not completely cleared.

______________

5

Liquid Emulsion Antiseptic and fungicide
Use to prevent Mould on LIQUID
UNCOATED SILVER GELATIN EMULSIONS
Add it to the liquid emulsion melted at 40-45c.
Antiseptic number 1

Prepare
a 10% alcoholic solution of salicylic acid


Salicylic Acid.............................. 10 grams
ethyl alcohol............................... 100 ml

salicylic acid may be added to liquid gelatin emulsions that have to be kept in uncoated liquid form for a few weeks to prevent gelatin degradation. It may be added also when the coated emulsion can not be rapidly dried, as in very humid weather where it would take coated material more than 12 hours to dry spontaneously .

Note that emulsion coats that remain humid for too long on its support and are not dried in less than 36 hours will suffer. Speed may change, fog may appear, spots may develop and contrast will be reduced.
For quality work make sure the coated material dries in less than 12 hours. Here is one more reason why it is better to apply several thin coats on different emulsion coating sessions and drying in between each coat, than 1 single heavy coat that will take too long to dry and worse still it may never be completely fixed by the thiosulphate, which is fatal for permanency.

DOSAGE:
3 ml per every 100 ml of melted liquid emulsion.

Above dosage will keep in good condition an uncoated liquid gelatin emulsion at room temperature ( 20-27c) without refrigeration for at least 30 days. ( in 40 days mould may appear)
Under refrigeration ( 5-10c) that dosage will conserve it about 4-6 months without fungi, spores, or mould.

Note that excessive salicylic acid will hydrolyze the gelatin (gelatin solutions will liquefy with out heat) if kept at room temperature too long. (but not under refrigeration)
Excessive salicylic acid may lower contrast a little on liquid emulsions formulated with " hard " gelatins because the drop on the emulsion ph and the gelatin emulsion hardness hinder the developer solution from penetrating deeply into the emulsion layer.

________________________________

6

HYPER-SENSIBILIZATION
of Liquid Light Sensitive
Silver Gelatin Emulsions
Add it to the liquid emulsion melted at 40-45c. to at least double emulsion speed.
hypersensibilizator number 1

Prepare
a 10% solution of sodium sulphite


Sodium sulphite anhydrous........10 grams
boiling water............................... 100 ml

If you have any doubts about the type of sodium sulphite you have, just make it anhydrous by heating it strongly over a heating element of your oven until it dehydrates. You will know it has no more humidity when you see no water vapor leaving the crystals. Do this also for the sodium carbonate
alkali hyper-sensibilizator found further below .

DOSAGE:
2 ml per every 100 ml of melted liquid emulsion.

Above dosage will about double the speed of any clean working silver bromide, or any other silver halide liquid emulsion. Mix completely  with emulsion.
Doubling the given dosage may or may not increase emulsion sensitivity or speed further, only testing can determine it.

Note that excessive excessive alkali salts added to the liquid emulsion while increasing its speed even further may also add fog or a tendency of the gelatin to frill on supports like glass, in such case the gelatin hardeners given above as anti-filling agents may also have to be added.

________________________________

7

HYPER-SENSIBILIZATION
of Liquid Light Sensitive Silver Gelatin Emulsions
Add it to the liquid emulsion melted at 40-45c. to at least double its speed.
hyper-sensibilizator number 2

Prepare
a 10% solution of sodium carbonate


Sodium carbonate anhydrous.....10 grams
boiling water............................... 100 ml

If you have any doubts about the type of sodium carbonate (washing soda) you have, just make it anhydrous by heating it strongly over a heating element of your oven until it dehydrates. You will know it has no more humidity when you see no water vapor driven by the heat out of the crystals.

DOSAGE:
2 ml per every 100 ml of melted liquid emulsion.

Above dosage will about double the speed of any clean working liquid light sensitive gelatin emulsion.
Increasing dosage further may also increase emulsion speed. read warning on hypersensibilizator number 1 above.

Note that excessive alkali salts added to the liquid emulsion while increasing its speed even further may also add fog or a tendency of the gelatin to frill on supports like glass, in such case the gelatin hardeners given above as anti-filling agents may also have to be added

1ml   each of 10% sodium carbonate and 10% sodium sulphite may be added together to every 100 ml of melted liquid emulsion at 45c.
Dosage may also be increased, find optimum dosage by trial and error for the particular type or brand of liquid emulsion you are using.
______________________________

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Photo Emulsion how to Make it  Yourself
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How To Make Archival Gelatin Silver Prints On Wood
How To Make Archival Gelatin Silver Prints
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How to Make Silver Prints or Images on Coffee Wood
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