F means Glossy, because it means Ferrotype. Most commercial labs used heated dryers to get through the days workload. When I began, I used a ferrotype plate. My ‘gloss’ was my mixture of print flattening agent with “white wax.” A tip from a carbro printing handbook, now long lost.
The prompt for this posting was a gallerist making a footnote about a Vintage Print being ferrotyped. That struck me as a marker — a word falling into the past. Googling the word gets the wrong, at least from my world, meaning.
The prints came off the dryer with a curl. It was essential to get the temperature, and speed of the dryer correct to avoid many possible defects. Another balancing act was spotting the print after it had been ferrotyped. Oh, Spotone was a later development; we made our own dyes before then, or used Kodak provided sets for their papers. I considered spots a defect — a marker of my lacking craft. Much as some consider lumps in mash. Now, I am less concerned, even putting lumps of potato into the mash, along with fried scraps of potato skin.
As I grew in looking, I dropped the need to draw with a sharp pencil.
Kodak Paper Surfaces
| A | Smooth, lustre, lightweight stock. Use for folding, paper negatives, ad layouts |
| E | Fine-grained, lustre. Preserves details, used for mechanical reproduction |
| G | Fine-grain lustre, use for portraits, oil coloring. |
| F | Smooth, glossy == Ferrotype |
| N | Smooth, semi-matte ==Natural. designed for retouching on print. Accepts pensiling, preserve fine detail |
| M | Matte |
| S | Ultra-smooth, high-lustre |
| R | Tweed surface, minimizes need for fine retouching. Popular in photomural work |
| X | Lustre, tapestry surface. Extemely coarse-textured. Frequently colored with opaque ols, which gives effect of an oil painting on canvas |
| Y | Simulates silk. Popular for wedding photography. Attractive brightness in snow scenes, seascapes.. |
1958 darkroom guide, from my early days.
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