Albumen

The albumen process is pretty sweet. More a coating than a specific process, albumen prints use a coating of Albumen (egg whites) and salt to create a nice surface on top of the desired paper, and allowing the one making the paper to place the light-sensitive silver nitrate on top - this produced a much sharper image than the other processes of the time, and also just looked sweet. It allowed for a glossy finish! Eat your heart out cyanotypes.

With the ability to create sharp images, the albumen process became a hit very fast. The paper was sold commercially, or you could make your own - as it is such a simple process. After you decide this is what you wanna do, the next step is to de-yolk about a dozen eggs, and whisk them in a container (shaking works well too) and do so VIOLENTLY until you get a nice foamy goo. I wanted to point out that this is definitely the most physical part of the process: you really have to feel the egg goo as you beast it. But even though this is the most active step to the albumen process, it is NOT the best part! That comes a bit down the road.

This photo was swiped off the internet: It is frothy egg goo.





The process:
First, you have to make your solution:

---I would recommend making all of the different "potions" on the same day, because they need time to get ready for you. Let your materials get some time to get to know you beter, and then the final print (AKA "Money-Shot") will yield much beter results and mean so, so much more.

1. Get a large beaker and combine 15-ml of distilled water with 2 milliliters of 28% acetic acid, and 15-g of ammonium chloride (sodium chloride or de iodized table/sea salt may be used as an alternative). It is also okay to "loosen things up" by adding 2 drops Kodak PhotoFlo, however it is completely optional.

2. The next step is to get together *500ml of egg white (12 eggs) and get it in a large tupperware container with a strong lid.**
Take the beaker of chemicals and mix it into the egg whites, secure the lid tightly, and begin your vigorous onslaught at the mixture's agitation. REMEMBER - These mixed chemicals and goo need to be agitated VIOLENTLY in order to get the mixture to be efficient. You have to really really get the motion going, because the froth that is made from agitation is the enemy - and you want to get that son of a bitch out of his bunker so you can scrape his ass up later.
3. Get your foamy and thick-yet-not-stiff bowl of chemistry and put it in the fridge for a night.
4. When you get to your fridge the next afternoon, remove all of the dirty foam from the top of the container, and filter the remaining liquid through a cheese cloth into your preferred containment vessel.
5. You should now get paper ready for the coating process, and this involves (wait for it) The floating of your paper on top of the albumen mixture. This really means-FOLD THE PAPER INTO LITTLE BOATS! Hell yeah: Start by folding the corners upwards, such as around a frame or make a paper-box, and bow the center of the paper to make a sort of "keel", and preventing air bubbles.
6. Float the paper on top of the mixture and eliminate any air bubbles as they appear.
7. Hang the paper to dry, making sure to rid the surface of those pesky little bubbles. Also make sure that you keep the paper in boat-form, because you will need these smooth-sailing curves later.
8. For a RE-COAT: prepare a solution of 70% isopropyl alcohol with 3% ammonium chloride added, making sure that it is the same temperature of your paper.
9. Submerse the once-coated paper in the solution for 15 seconds, ensuring the albumen will harden, ensuring a proper second coat.
10. "When the alcohol has evaporated (fully – otherwise the second coat won’t stick), float the paper on the surface of the albumen mixture once again following the previously described procedure. The recommended salt concentration corresponds directly with the concentration of salt in the albumen coating. (Since 70% isopropyl alcohol will leech salt from the albumen, the same concentration must exist in both solutions.)" Copied from Alternative Photography
11. The paper should be dried again, and then depending on your desired amount of time the paper should rot, you need to sensitize it.
12. Prepare a mixture of 37.5 grams of silver nitrate with 250 milliliters of distilled water, giving you a 15% solution. Cloudy at first, this will go away, but doesn't matter anyway.-So store the sensitizer in a cool, dark place (fridge) overnight.
13. Take the new sensitizer and get it to room temperature, or however hot your paper is. Get the sensitizing chemical into a nice and wide Pyrex or glass container***
14. Take your single or double-coated albumen boats, and float them on the surface of the sensitizer for about 3 minutes. Make sure to eliminate the evil bubbles- you'll have to figure this out on your own, as every bubble-demon is different. after floating your boat (I recommend listening to This During boating times) take it and hang it to dry in a dark place. I mean it -the paper is light-sensitive now.
15. After it is dry, you are done making your paper! Cut it to your specifications, making sure to remove the flaps of uncoated paper. The coated paper is placed under a photo negative, and then glass to keep it in place. The contraption is then exposed in sunlight.


16. The paper is then rinsed in a solution of water, and then either a toner can be applied, or you can simply soak the print in a non-hardening fixer, and wash in water again for about an hour.

17. Your resulting image will be light brown, maybe a little red or purple-ish. But after you are done here, you will know what your image is like.

So On this whole lab thing, I missed the best part. i didn't make any boats, all i did was expose and wash them. Also, My prints were ruined after i unknowingly destroyed the albumen by drying them on a mirror, as is my norm in the darkroom with regular silver prints.


HERE ARE SOME LINKS!!!!!

A great site to look at some great prints!

How to make an Albumen print from start to finish

* The best method is to crack fresh ones, I was told EggBeaters (or whatever the trademarked product is) do not work so well.
** Perhaps a better mix can be made with a high-power mixing bowl, but why bullshit the historical nature of the process?
*** The Pyrex or Glass container is best, but using an aluminum cake-tray might be easier if you are a poor college student. I might say though, that the unclean metal might react with your chemistry. Who knows right?