In this post, I am gonna blog about my experience learning Vandyke Brown printing, a process that doesn’t require a darkroom.

Nowadays, not many people bother to print their photos. We store everything on Facebook, Instagram, hard disk, whatever Cloud, etc. For film photography, even if we want to print our negatives, we turned to the most convenient way, which is via scanner, then computer download to photo printing machine.

And what makes us not do the printing in the darkroom is the time, money and skills required. Oh, of course, we don’t have convenient access to a darkroom all the time!

So, if anyone is interested to do some very easy and straight forward vintage printing, you have an option: Vandyke Brown Printing.

Vandyke Brown

I attended the workshop offered by House of Photography (HOP). It’s $40 per person and $70 for two persons, for a session. Personally, I think it’s fun and worthwhile.

Basically, Vandyke Brown is named after Anthony van Dyck. This process involves silver nitrate, tartaric acid and ferric ammonium citrate coated onto a paper. Basically, the chemicals can be coated on any type of drawing paper that you use during your art classes. But the best paper for Vandyke (provided by HOP) is from a brand called Lana Aquarelle.

Such paper has a smooth surface which I believe improve the quality.

There’s a specialised paper shop near to the Singapore National Library in Bugis, you can get all kind of good paper from there.

Steps

HOP provided us with the chemicals. So far, you cannot get these chemicals in Singapore. You have to order it online, such as from B&H. Anyway, I googled and here’s the formula if you fancy making it yourself:

Part A Solution:
100mL distilled water (room temp)
27g     ferric ammonium citrate

Part B Solution:
100mL distilled water (room temp)
4.5g   tartaric acid

Part C Solution:
100mL distilled water (room temp)
12g     silver nitrate

Overall, the steps are super simple. First, in the modern day, you will need to have your negative scan to computer, print it out on transparency paper using a house printer.

By the way, this printing method only works for transparency paper, medium and large format film. It won’t work for 35mm negative because the emulsion on the 35mm film is too thick that it will interfere with UV penetration.

Next, place the paper onto any hard support. We were given wooden plank. Then, we dripped about 5 droplets (or more if you want) on the drawing paper. Spread the chemicals as if you are painting the wall. Try to spread it evenly. However, you can also try to apply some creativity to achieve funny shape.

No fixed rule.

Now, you have to make sure the paper is dry. As we are all impatient people, we used hair dryer, which is not really recommended by the instructor as it might curl your paper.

After the paper is completely dry, put the image you want to print onto the coated surface. Then, put a piece of glass on top. Now, your paper and negative are sandwiched between the wooden plank and the glass. Secure the sandwich with clippers.

Put it under the sun because these chemicals need UV to work.

It was raining during the session, but there’s still UV, just not too strong. So the print took about 15-30 minutes to be exposed.

However, during a typical sunny day, all it takes is only 5 minutes.

Washing

After exposure (chemical turned from yellow to orangish brown), bring it indoor which will stop UV exposure. Wash away the chemical with water, fix it and wash again with hydro water.

Hang to dry and taa-daa, the print is ready for archive and display!

Pictures:

Overall, Vandyke Brown printing is really fun and easy. Unfortunately, it’s inconvenient to get the chemical locally. But HOP said they are considering selling a Vandyke kit. Hope to hear the good news soon!

 

 

If you are new to this film photography blog, Start Here. Or head over to Film Look to see samples of each film.

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