SOLAR PRINTS OF PLANTS. 



BY JAMES SHEPARD, NEW BRITAIN. CONN. 



It is nothing new to make solar prints direct from 

 plants, but the result is unsatisfactory as it gives a 

 white image on a dark ground. This produces a nega- 

 tive from a positive and is not pleasing because it is 

 the reverse of nature. But if we go one step further 

 and use the direct print as a negative to make other 

 prints from, the result will be a print in harmony with 

 nature and an exact print of the plant itself. The most 

 simple and convenient of all solar printing papers is the 

 ordinary blue print paper. This however cannot be 

 used for making a negative, as a blue ground will not 

 cut off the rays of light sufficiently to give any sub- 

 stantial contrast in a print made from such a negative- 



The best cheap negative paper is that known as 

 "Vandyke Solar Paper." I have used this paper for 

 many years obtaining the same from Messrs. Eugene 

 Dietzgen Co., 124 W. 23rd, St.. New York City. It 

 is sold in rolls of ten yards in three different widths, of 

 either thick or thin paper. A ten yard roll, thirty-six 

 inches wide, costs only $2.10 and the roll may be cut 

 into as many lengths as desired without extra cost. 

 I use the thin paper in rolls 36 inches wide cut 

 into four lengths each 9 inches wide. It is easy to cut 

 from the end of a nine inch roll any size desired, not 

 exceeding nine inches in its lesser dimensions. Fixing 

 salts to be disolved in water for a fixing solution come 

 with the paper. This paper gives white transparent 

 lines on an opaque dark brown background. It is as 

 simple to use as the ordinary blue print paper, is per- 

 manent, and unlike the blue print paper will keep in- 

 definitely without imparing its printing qualities, so 

 that old paper is as good as new- 



To make negative of plant, or any portion thereof, 

 place it on the glass of an ordinary printing frame 

 and then place the Vandyke paper on the top of the 



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