I love so many of these old printing processes I couldn’t help but print “The Medicine Wheel” negative as a (toned) Kallitype print.
What is a Kallitype? Patented in 1889 by W. W. J. Nicol (1855-1929), the Kallitype print is an iron-silver process. These are generally referred to as "Siderotype" processes. A chemical process based on the use of a combination of ferric and silver salts. The Kallitype uses ferric oxalate and silver nitrate as the sensitizer. The use of ferric oxalate allows for both extended shadow definition (higher DMAX) and contrast control.
Many developing solutions can be used to give a different image color (brown, sepia, blue, maroon, and black). I like the more “red” colors. I used sodium citrate as a developer on this print.
These prints were popular in the 19th century, and then their popularity faded away. Sometimes known as "the poor man's platinum print", when the image is toned in platinum or palladium the result is nearly chemically identical to a true Platinotype or Palladiotype or a combination. It is believed that many Kallitypes were passed off as true Platinotypes and remain in collections as so. Kallitypes have had a reputation over the years as having poor archival qualities and often fading. When properly cleared, Kallitypes are completely archivable and will not fade. Toning with a metal such as gold, platinum, or palladium (like this print was) will give extra image permanence. Ferrous ions embedded in the paper as a result of poor clearing can cause a short life (image permanence) for the print. This can be easily identified by a yellow stain in the highlights.
The wet collodion negative of “The Medicine Wheel”. I use a combination of Sutton’s formulas and my own take on the wet collodion negative making process.