Technique: albumen printing

This work is printed entirely by hand in the darkroom using albumen-coated photographic paper and the albumen printing process.

This work is limited to an edition of ten prints.

Artwork size: 201 * 252 mm

Image size: 138*202mm or 142*142mm (depending on whether the work is square or rectangular)

Matboard size: 356*434mm

Gold chloride toning is used for long-term preservation.

* The work is already mounted on acid-free matboard, with a backing board and window mat.

* Includes a certificate of authenticity.

Prices by edition number (NT$):

Currently available edition: ＃5

#6: 12800.-

#6: 15800.-

#7: 17800.-

#8: 20800.-

#9: 25880.-

#10: 36880.-

* The texture of an albumen print

The print is secured to the backing board with acid-free photo corners. The photographic paper bears the artist’s signature and edition number, with an embossed stamp at the lower right. A story about the work is written on the reverse at the lower left.

Steps in the albumen printing process:

1. Making salt: Photographer Kino Koike collects seawater from his hometown of Hakodate, Hokkaido, and boils it for about two hours to extract the salt.

2. Preparing the albumen solution: Egg whites are mixed thoroughly with salt and a small amount of vinegar. The mixture is left overnight and filtered. The clear albumen solution is then poured onto paper and allowed to dry, creating albumen-coated paper.

3. Making light-sensitive photographic paper: The albumen-coated paper is coated with a layer of silver nitrate solution to make it sensitive to light.

4. Exposure: A digital negative is placed on the paper and held between sheets of glass. The paper is then exposed using sunlight or ultraviolet exposure equipment.

5. Processing the image: The photographic paper is soaked in water for ten minutes, then in a gold chloride solution for five minutes to help prevent fading. It is rinsed for five minutes and treated with fixer. After repeating the fixing treatment twice, the print is washed with aeration for one hour, dried and flattened.

The photographer boils the seawater to make his own sea salt.

The video shows paper being coated with a mixture of egg white and salt. Once the albumen-coated paper is dry, silver nitrate is applied to create light-sensitive photographic paper. The paper must be exposed within one hour of applying the silver nitrate. This step is carried out in the darkroom, usually just before printing.