Wow, I am going to have to blush in private over some of the nice things that have been said here about my carbon printing. The generous comments are much appreciated. The only caveat is that having one's prints called awesome and amazing sure sets the bar pretty high for anything I show in the future. I probably should have brought to PhotoStock only the good and excellent work and saved those amazing prints for the future because honestly I don't know how to improve on some of the adjectives you fellows used in describing my work.
In answer to a couple of questions, carbon transfer printing is very inexpensive in terms of materials, especially if you make your own tissue. The pigment, gelatin and dichromate used in the process is quite inexpensive so the major cost is in the final support, which could be fixed out photo paper or sized art papers. For the photo paper you try to find out of date stock that no longer has much value for making silver prints so should be relatively inexpensive. For art papers we use papers like 90 or 140 lb hot press papers like Fabriano Artistico or Lanquarelle. Price on this varies a lot depending on weight and where you buy it. However, by any stretch the cost of carbon works out to be a lot less expensive than pt/pd and silver gelatin.
But, there is cost in your time. Someone else asked about difficulty. At this point in time, after more than two decades of working carbon, I have reached the point where the process is very easy for me, and I have excellent control to make repeat prints that are virtually identical. But for someone starting out I estimate that you will need to put in at least 10X the amount of time you would need to become a master pt/pd printer to even begin to master carbon transfer printing. But even for persons who are relatively new to the process, Jim for example, it has a fascination that really grabs you and motivates you to try to do the best work possible.
I hope that some of you will consider a carbon workshop at some point in the future. I will probably schedule one next summer at the Formulary, and it is likely that I will do another one at Photostock at some point in the future. The one-on-one workshops that I do in my own workspace can also be great learning experience as I am totally familiar with the environment and can really cover a lot in whatever period of time the workshop covers, though I encourage 2-3 days workshops in my space.
BTW, in order to really appreciate a well-crafted carbon print, mine or by someone else who does good work, you have to see it with the print in your hands. When you see them reproduced in magazine all that really comes across is the content of the image, and perhaps color. There is simply no way to show in a magazine some of the extraordinary surface qualities of carbon transfer prints. And many people, on seeing a beautifully crafted carbon transfer print, are mesmerized by the surface and textural qualities because they are truly unique to photographic print making.
Sandy King