Photon Beard 4-blade easel

Presentation is an important aspect of print making which is sometimes not given the attention that it deserves. In the same way that the quality of the print helps in the final assessment of the subject, the presentation plays a part. The club and salon exhibition circuit usually looks for a different type of presentation from that of the more traditional museum and gallery circuit. The club scene sees changes on quite a regular basis, whereas the traditional wide border has prevailed for many years in the galleries and museums.

Photon Beard have made easels for many years and I would think that their two-blade easel is a standard feature in many darkrooms around the country. The four-blade easel, which incorporates a number of different features, is a fairly recent addition to their range and so I took a 16 x 12 model into the little darkened room to see how it performed and whether it made those all important subtle differences to my print presentation.

The Photon Beard 4 Blade Easel is made in four standard sizes from 16 x 12" up to 30 x 20" and is supplied with a Border Printing Kit. The easel is fitted with four removable 2" wide blades, and a set of 4" blades are available as an extra. The paper is located centrally into the easel and the size of the border can be varied depending on whether the 2" or 4" blades are used.

The model that I tested allows paper sizes from 2.5 x 2" to 16 x 12" to be used. Each hand-made easel is constructed using high quality materials which are in the main metal, except for the blade stops which are plastic.

IN OPERATION

The first point that I noticed was the substantial weight of the easel which means that there is little chance of it being easily knocked out of position once it is in place on the base board. There is nothing more infuriating than making and exposure and finding that when the enlarger is switched on the easel has been accidentally moved. Having said that, the easel is quite heavy; do not think that a hernia will result from moving it around, but it is solid enough to be very stable when in position.

Each blade has two locking knobs and can be set accurately in place using the measuring scale on the outside of the frame. Because the standard paper sizes are located centrally, the measuring scales are graded from the centre outwards on all four sides of the easel which allows for easy and accurate calculation of the border width. Locking the blades in place is also easy and accurate because the blade has a locking knob at each end and once fixed it will not move. Consequently, when all four blades have been locked into position the printed image will be square. When using non-standard sizes, such as A4, the paper will be off centre in the easel but because of the measuring scale on the frame it is quite easy to calculate the desired border width.

The paper is located in the easel by placing it against two adjustable stops which are fitted at right angles to each other in the base of the easel. The 16 x 12 easel has 4 slots to allow for four different standard paper sizes to be used. The frame is then closed, and the paper stops will retract below the baseboard surface leaving the paper held in position by the masking blades. Generally this system works well but I did experience some problems with paper that had a pronounced upward curl, in that it moved as the masking frame was closed and the print was then not square on the paper. Clearly, this is not a major problem because once you realise that this is going to happen steps can be taken to ensure that the paper will stay in place. My own preferred method of presenting prints is to leave a white border of not less that one inch around the image area and I was well pleased with the ease and speed that this could be achieved with the Photon Beard Easel. There are times when a small print is required to be made in the centre of a large sheet of photographic paper and by using the 4" blades, available as an extra, this can be very easily achieved.

BORDER PRINTING

The Border Printing Kit is an accessory that allows a wide range of border effects to be made when used in conjunction with the Photon Beard 4 Blade Easel. The kit comprises sixteen blade stops, four magnetic strips and one border setting gauge. The most common type of border is the narrow black line around a black and white image and a white border to the edge of the paper but many other effects can be achieved using the kit and by exercising a little imagination. I produced a number of different borders and will describe how they were achieved.



Left: An image with no keyline can fail to contain thje eye's roving tendency.
Right: A keyline can hold the attention.



Above; a plain white border with black line, the simplest technique, can be tackled using any enlarger. Above & Below left; Creating either a light grey or darker bleed calls for very careful processing, but most of all for an enlarger with perfectly even illumination tike the Zone IV used for these examples.

Setting up the Border Kit Eight of the blade stops are fitted on to the masking frame, one at each end, and on the outside of each blade. The width of the black line is set by inserting the Border Setting Gauge against the outside of the blade and then sliding the Blade Stop against the Gauge so that all three are in contact. Tighten the locking screw on the Blade Stop and remove the Gauge, leaving a gap between the blade and the Blade Stop which will be the exact width of the size of the Gauge selected.

The Border Setting Gauge consists of three strips of different thickness and by using them separately or in combination it is possible to set borders of 1/16th to 1/2 inch in increments of 1/16 inch. This procedure is repeated on the other blades and the easel is set up to print a black border of the desired width. Should more than one print be required, fit the remaining eight Blade Stops hard up against the inside edge of each blade to provide a return position after each print has been produced. At this point it is necessary to cut a mask from thin card (I used off cuts of museum mount board) to fit into the aperture in the easel through which the paper will be exposed. Ensure that it is an accurate fit, and be sure to mark it so that you will be able to place it into the masking frame in the same way each time that it is used. This can all be carried out in normal white light.

The next step is to make the print in the normal way with the paper in place in the easel and one piece of the Magnetic Strip placed along each long blade to ensure that the paper is firmly clamped to the base board. Having made the exposure the pre-cut mask is placed over the exposed paper ensuring that it is a good snug fit and the two unused magnetic strips are laid on top of the card to hold it securely in place. Release the two locking knobs on one blade and move the blade outwards until it sits snugly against the Blade Stop and carefully re-lock. This procedure is then carried out on the three remaining blades. Expose the paper to white light, remove the magnetic strips and the card mask. Process the paper and you should have a print with a black line around the image area with a white border to the edge of the paper.

When exposing the paper to white light to create the black line it is advisable to first carry out a test to determine the exact exposure required. Underexposure will give you a grey line and too much exposure is likely to cause bleeding under the mask, so the edge of the black line will not be crisp and sharp. The ideal situation is to use two enlargers so that it is not necessary to have to test for exposure time every time that you make a print with a black line border nor will you need to take out the negative in order to make the exposure. There are a number of variations possible when using this technique as a starting point.

CONCLUSION

When used as a straightforward masking frame the Photon Beard Easel is very easy to use and set to the size required, although it can take a little longer because you have to adjust each of the four blades individually. That comment is not meant as a criticism for it is the very reason that the easel is so accurate and produces a good clean square edge to the printed image.

I did, on a few occasions, move the paper after it had been located in the easel and the frame had been closed down. This is because the paper stops disappear below the level of the base board when the frame is closed down and I made the mistake of touching the unexposed paper for some reason. There are two ways to prevent this - either don't touch the paper, or place the magnetic strip along two of the blades to clamp down the paper.

Because of the measuring scale on the edge of the frame, accuracy down to 1mm can be achieved, which means that you should never again have a print that is out of square. When they are matted with a white border there will be no problems in having annoying uneven borders.

Putting black borders around the print does take a little work and preparation. However, by building up a selection of pre-cut masks the preparation time will eventually reduce, and again, a good professional job can be guaranteed. In addition, and with a little imagination, different and creative methods of print presentation can be achieved. The Photon Beard Easel is a solid, well constructed piece of darkroom equipment that can rightfully be described as being one of the market leaders and will last a lifetime.

- Les McLean

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