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OIL PRINTING
by René Smets
INTRODUCTION
The oil process was introduced in 1904 by Rawlins, as a simplified variation of
the collotype process. Robert Demachy and Constant Puyo were the first to
apply it to fine art photography. Around 1907, the process was widely used in
photography.
When a dichromated gelatin is exposed under UV light, the exposed parts
harden and will accept an oil-based ink, which will be repelled by the non-
exposed parts saturated with water after soaking.
The end of the bromoil process?
When the production of non-supercoated papers such as Kentmere, Bergger
etc.. was stopped, I had no alternative but to try making it by myself.
There are two ways of making pictures with oil-based inks:
- oil printing
- bromoil printing on liquid emulsion.
In this manual I will describe oil printing, the way I currently do it.
The text covers the following chapters:
- the paper
- the emulsion
- coating
- sensitizing
- the exposure
- processing
- inking
To be continued...
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