I need to start this with another Note from the Pulpit. 

My dear friend Phil Schary died last month.  A wildfire cancer took him just as he and his wife were poised to enjoy their elder years.  Phil was a scholar, teacher, mentor, friend, and photographer.  He shared willingly and openly everything he knew (and that was much) but even more important, he was the best question-asker I've ever known.  Phil could look at the past and toward the future simultaneously and see the bridge.  In photography, he examined each new thing that came along, be it innovation or revolution, and gave it honest consideration.   He still loved the darkroom, but was excited about the potential of digital.   He saw the continuity.  And now he is gone. 

Emulsion making and research started out as a hobbyist's occupation.  Reading the old literature, you can sense the excitement.  They shared openly and gave credit freely.  By 1900, give or take a few years, the literature dried up.  In 1929, E. J. Wall wrote in Photographic Emulsions, "There is nothing in the literature upon the subject (photographic emulsions) which helps one much when undertaking this sort of research work.  Practically all the knowledge is secreted in the great factories.  The worker at this point stands practically in the position of the man who first discovered emulsion photography, and he must battle his way through and pull himself up until he has acquired a knowledge equal to what is known at the present day.  This is far from a simple matter, but once I set to the task it proved tremendously fascinating.''

We are today in the same place as Wall in 1929, but we are losing the people who can 'see the bridge'.  If this research is allowed to languish much longer, the darkrooms will be gone.  Yes, there will still be beautiful black and white photographs hanging in museums (or more likely, in private collections) and there will even be old darkroom technique books left to buy used, but the intimate, casual experience of working the materials will be gone. The bridge burned.  Time's a wasting and secrets and egos are an unaffordable indulgence.

'I♥' is a Cl-Br-I emulsion.  The cooking procedure is derived from an Azo-like paper recipe developed by Ron Mowrey and taught at a workshop last year.  I was dissatisfied with that original recipe and worked for six months changing one thing at a time until there is very little similarity between 'I ♥' and Ron's recipe.  Ron's procedure has an innovative step that he devised which works well and that I haven't tried to change.   Because of that one step, Ron is claiming copyright secrecy rights and doesn't want me to share my recipe until he decides whether or not he wants to write a book.  The attitude is pure George Eastman and understandable on a certain level, but it is an attitude that is antithetical to my life's philosophy.  Secrets make no contribution.  Here's to Ron's book.  He has so much to offer.  I can't come close to his chemical engineering knowledge, but I do have a lifetime of darkroom experience and a year of emulsion research I can share. 

On January 1, 2008, (note: this date has beenchanged to February 1) I will publish on this website, under the philosophy of Open Source, everything I have learned about emulsion making.  In addition, I will offer workshops to anyone who wants hands-on education.  Hopefully, Ron will continue to offer workshops.  As different people learn and contribute to the body of knowledge, perhaps together we can rebuild the craft and science of handcrafted silver gelatin emulsion.