:QUOTE [quotetype:personal] 1834. Paper. Salt. Silver. Sunlight. The first photographs looked like this. :INFO What Salt Printing Is Salt printing, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1834, is the earliest paper photographic process. Paper is coated with a sodium chloride (salt) solution, allowed to dry, then brushed with silver nitrate. The salt and silver react to form silver chloride — a light-sensitive compound. Placing a negative over the paper and exposing to sunlight produces a contact print. Salt prints have a warm, matte surface with a soft, diffused image quality unlike any modern paper. :COUNTER.half 2 Percent | :COUNTER.half 12 Percent :PATH Salt the Paper Brush a 2% salt solution onto paper and let dry completely. | :INFO Salt the Paper Dissolve 2g of non-iodized table salt in 100ml of distilled water. Brush onto one side of watercolor or drawing paper with a wide watercolor brush in even strokes. Allow to dry completely — 30 to 60 minutes. The dried paper is not yet light-sensitive and can be handled in normal light. :PATH Sensitize with Silver Nitrate In low light, brush 12% silver nitrate over the salted paper and dry. | :INFO Sensitize with Silver Nitrate Under dim indoor light (no direct sunlight), brush a 12% silver nitrate solution over the dried salted surface. The paper will immediately turn pale yellow as silver chloride forms. Work quickly and evenly. Allow to dry in a dark space — 5 to 10 minutes. The sensitized paper is now light-sensitive and must be kept from sunlight until printing. :PATH Contact Print Under the Sun Place a film negative or transparency face-down and expose in direct sun. | :INFO Contact Print Under the Sun Place the sensitized paper emulsion-side up in a contact printing frame. Lay a 4x5 or larger film negative (or a printed transparency on clear film) face-down in contact with the paper. Expose in direct sunlight — 3 to 15 minutes depending on UV intensity and negative density. The print will appear during exposure (print-out process). Check progress by lifting the frame corner. :PATH Fix and Wash Fix in sodium thiosulfate, wash thoroughly, and dry flat. | :INFO Fix and Wash Once the image is fully printed, fix in a 10% sodium thiosulfate solution for 2 minutes. The print will shift in color during fixing — this is normal. Wash in running water for 20 minutes to remove all residual chemistry. Dry flat on a screen or blotter. Salt prints may continue to shift slightly in color as they age — this is characteristic of the process. :CHECKLIST What You Need [ ] Non-iodized sodium chloride (table salt) [ ] Silver nitrate — 12g per 100ml distilled water [ ] Sodium thiosulfate for fixing [ ] Distilled water for all solutions [ ] Watercolor or drawing paper — 140lb hot press [ ] Wide flat watercolor brush for coating [ ] Contact printing frame or heavy glass [ ] Negative on film or printed on clear transparency :NOTE Iodized Salt Inhibits Sensitization Use only non-iodized plain table salt. The iodine additives in iodized salt interfere with the silver chloride formation and produce blotchy, poorly sensitized paper. Use kosher salt, canning salt, or a non-iodized table salt and dissolve completely before use. :QUOTE [quotetype:personal] Every photograph in the world descends from this piece of salted paper. :LINK https://www.alternativephotography.com/salt-print-process/ Alternative Photography — The Complete Salt Print Process Guide