January 2026
I participated in a Salt Print Workshop led by Ellie Young of Gold Street Studios in Trentham East in the Central Highlands of Victoria for IPT members. Salt printing is a process initially developed by Fox Talbot in the 1830's. It involves coating paper first with a sodium chloride solution, letting it dry, and then re-coating with a silver nitrate solution. The sensitised paper is then exposed to either sunlight or artificial UV sources. The prints can be photograms, where objects are placed directly on the paper during exposure, or contact prints, where the paper is exposed through either digital or analog negatives. The resulting prints can be toned and fixed for permanence.
Ellie is an expert in salt and albumen prints. She walked the participants through making plain salt prints, gelatin-coated and single and double-coated albumen prints. The exposed prints were toned with gold toner and fixed. We used glass push rods to coat the paper evenly. In plain salt prints, a solution of sodium chloride is used for the initial coating. For gelatine prints, pure gelatine is added to the sodium chloride solution, and albumen prints are coated in specially prepared egg whites with sodium chloride added. The gelatine and albumen coatings give a different colour to the straight salt print because the silver particles that result during exposure are suspended above the paper surface. The albumen provides a gloss finish to the print, with the double-coated albumen print having the greatest gloss.
The Following Images:
I participated in a Salt Print Workshop led by Ellie Young of Gold Street Studios in Trentham East in the Central Highlands of Victoria for IPT members. Salt printing is a process initially developed by Fox Talbot in the 1830's. It involves coating paper first with a sodium chloride solution, letting it dry, and then re-coating with a silver nitrate solution. The sensitised paper is then exposed to either sunlight or artificial UV sources. The prints can be photograms, where objects are placed directly on the paper during exposure, or contact prints, where the paper is exposed through either digital or analog negatives. The resulting prints can be toned and fixed for permanence.
Ellie is an expert in salt and albumen prints. She walked the participants through making plain salt prints, gelatin-coated and single and double-coated albumen prints. The exposed prints were toned with gold toner and fixed. We used glass push rods to coat the paper evenly. In plain salt prints, a solution of sodium chloride is used for the initial coating. For gelatine prints, pure gelatine is added to the sodium chloride solution, and albumen prints are coated in specially prepared egg whites with sodium chloride added. The gelatine and albumen coatings give a different colour to the straight salt print because the silver particles that result during exposure are suspended above the paper surface. The albumen provides a gloss finish to the print, with the double-coated albumen print having the greatest gloss.
The Following Images:
- Damselfly Face by Peter Kinchington - Salt Print with 4min in Gold Toner.
- Little Wattle Bird by Jocelyn Krewaz - Salt Print with 4min in Gold Toner.
- Musk Lorikeet by Jocelyn Krewaz - Single Coated Albumen Print with 2min in Gold Toner.
