Platinum/Palladium advice appreciated

[Greg]

Have been printing Platinum/Palladium prints on and off for past probably 5 years. I have been auditing Alternative Photo Process classes at out local Art School. First time to learn the process and next times was able to prefect my technique. Last class I made digital negatives at home and printed at the school. Followed Dan Burkholder's method in his book The New Inkjet Negative Companion. Always place his calibrated digital step tablet next to the image. Majority of times the first print I make is a keeper, otherwise by reading the step tablet second print is a keeper. Studied Photographic Sensitometry under the late Hollis Todd and Thomas Hill, loved it, excelled in it, and eventually taught it on the University level.
Come the present day. Decided to build a darkroom 2 years ago, Started using it one year ago for traditional B&W negatives and prints and Chemigrams (acquired a stash of boxes of very outdated paper). Now want to use the darkroom to print Platinum/Palladium here at home. Here are my plans and would appreciate any comments from others who print Platinum/Palladium.

Intend on purchasing chemistry and paper from Bostick & Sullivan. Have dealt with them in the past and no reason to go elsewhere. Or is there someone else to consider?

UV Light source: One from Edwards Engineered Products. Their 18x20" with built in Vacuum Frame. Like the metal fabrication of the one Freestyle offers, but prefer the built in vacuum frame from EEP. Anybody have any experiences with EEP?

Paper dryer: Bought an Excalibur Food Dehydration unit. Has 9 14x14" drying screens. Will be easily fabricating an exhaust duct to the outside. Very adequate for making a few Whole Plate or 8x10" prints at the same time. I normally batch print 2 to 4 separate prints at the same time. Plan on printing 11x14 prints in the future, but will do those one at a time and will deal with drying the paper at that time.

Print washer: Got a Kostiner Archival Print Washer (vertical plexiglass unit) on EBay for opening bid... Guess there are not many buyers out there.

Print viewing station: Am very seriously considering a light balanced viewing station. Viewed some prints under florescent bulb light fixtures and in the Gallery looked a little bit like crap.

Mounting supplies: LODIMA (Michael Smith & Paula Chamiee). Will be ordering batches of pre-cut mat board for Whole Plate, 8x10, and 11x14 prints. Mat size their option. Also locally have Contemporary Framing to also order batches of frames. Am taking down a present show that I had to put everything together over Christmas holidays.. wanted to have the show up in the fall of 2016 but was assigned a January 8th opening show slot. Show was hung up in time but not without many last minute headaches... never again. LODIMA's mat board is a little too "bright" white for my taste, but my favorite board - Light Impressions Conservation board no longer available... little like when I found out that Bergger 200 film was no longer available... that's life.

Coating paper with glass rods... I know brush marks look so much better, but they abide behind the mat opening as does the step tablet. Foam brushes I find plain offensive to the traditional process.

Greg

[Alan9940]

Hello Greg,

Sounds like you've got some good plans already in the making! I would wholeheartedly recommend B&S for most of your pt/pd supplies. That said, however, I'd compare bulk chemical prices with ArtCraft Chemicals, too. I have had a UV light unit from EEP for many years and have been totally happy with it. Highly recommended. Sounds like you've got the drying part nailed down, but you don't say anything about humidifying the paper; or, do you live in a naturally high humidity area? Again, if you need to humidify there are many options...I built my own cabinet using a tear-drop shaped humidifier that feeds cool mist from the bottom. Maintains about 90 - 94% humidity and works great! Suit yourself with the print viewing station. I use the same roughly daylight balanced bulb/reflector setup that I use when viewing wet gelatin silver prints out of the pre-wash. Me and coating rods never got along, but I know many who use them. I prefer a brush.

Good luck! And, welcome back to pt/pd printing.

Oh, one other thing...since FO lasts only about 4 - 6 months, I'd recommend mixing that from powder; cheaper and easier to keep fresh.

[Robert Bowring]

I also used to use Light Impressions Conservation Board. I am now using Warm White Museum Board from Archival Methods. It is the same color as the Conservation Board. I can't see any difference in sidexside comparison. You might want to give it a try. I have also used Contemporary Frame company for a long time. Good company with good prices and good quality.

[Jim Noel]

I agree it is best to buy FO in powder form. The only supplier I trust for this is B&S. Over the last 20+ years I have ordered from every source at one time or the other. Theirs is the only one to never cause problems.
That said, I disagree about it's life span. The batch I used while printing last week was mixed from powder in RO water in 2013. It worked perfectly, as usual. I believe the secret is storage in constant temperature. Since my darkroom stays between 70 and 72 deg F at all times, I have no problem with it. Most of my students store it in the refrigerator and take it out about an hour prior to use to allow it to warm to room temperature.

[Vaughn]

I do not pt/pd print on a regular schedule and FO is relatively inexpensive, so if I make an order from B&S, I tend to have them toss in a couple 25ml bottles of FO. Everything else (paper, platinum) is a bit pricey, so I prefer to use fresh FO, or some that I have kept in the fridge unopened. It says 6 months on the B&S's bottle.

If I start making 11x14 platinum/palladium prints, I might have to re-evaluate things a bit!

B&S -- great people to work with, great products.

A print washer would not fit into my pt/pd work flow -- I tend to use a print per tray and do complete water exchanges. Some papers would not hold together well enough to pull out of the washer.

Paper drier: For finishes prints and/or freshly coated prints? I hang them both on strings (a fan on the freshly coated paper).

EEP -- I ordered one of their UV kits (no vacuum frame) for the university many years ago. Somewhat disappointed in it, but managed to put it together even with the mis-cut boards and it did serve us well.

Print viewing -- takes some practice to judge dry-down of pt/pd prints!

I begin coating with a glass rod to define the shape, after 3 or four passes with the rod, I finish with a brush. I found it was easier on the paper, and more fun.

[Michael Mutmansky]

Glass rods are for people who want to be cheap with the materials. They are good for single coating, and use relatively little chemicals compared to a cheap hake brush. They are prone to low dmax, however, because they don't often put enough solution into the paper fibers to achieve a good result, and you can't really do that with a rod because you then have too much solution on the paper, resulting in streaking or paper buckling, which leaves coating marks as you drag the rod over it again as you finish.

I don't know anyone who is serious about pt/pd that uses a rod for printing because of the inherent compromises they produce. If your aesthetic if for low dmax and potentially solarized shadows the rod will suit you well, but in general, people seem to start out with the rods, and move to brushes in time (sometimes fairly quickly).

Hake brushes are OK for spreading the solution around, but frankly, they are penny-wise and pound-foolish because they absorb so much solution, and they can result in streaking in the coating if the brush is too damp. It doesn't take too many prints to cover the cost of a nice Richeson 9010 brush.

http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discou...sh-brushes.htm

There is a bit of a trick to using these things properly, but when you get it going correctly, you will get the absolutely smoothest, most consistent coated paper you can ever achieve by hand. And that includes double coating, which you can never do with a rod, and a lot of other brushes will streak unacceptably.

My only suggestion is to strip the paint off the handle and then seal it with a good spar varnish rather than leave the paint on there. If you use it a lot, it will start to peel and flake off, which can drop onto the print and damage the paper as you complete the coating process.

FO is a pain to get into solution without a proper hotplate/mixer. They are invaluable for a pt/pd darkroom, IMO. You can find then fairly inexpensively on Ebay. I have had FO last for well over a year, and you can refresh older FO with a drop or two of hydrogen peroxide, so I wouldn't be afraid to by in liquid form if you aren't printing a lot. If you print a lot, you will want to buy in the powder form.

A simple fan will dry the paper in most environments quickly enough, and if you need to speed it up, a hair dryer on very low or no heat will seal the deal quickly.


---Michael

[Alan9940]

That said, I disagree about it's life span. The batch I used while printing last week was mixed from powder in RO water in 2013. It worked perfectly, as usual. I believe the secret is storage in constant temperature. Since my darkroom stays between 70 and 72 deg F at all times,

Living in the desert southwest my darkroom temps during the summer months runs about 82 - 85F for several months. I've had FO go bad on me. Compared to the metals, FO is cheap so I just mix a fresh batch about every 6 mos and toss the old stuff. Keeps me sane!

[Alan9940]

EEP -- I ordered one of their UV kits (no vacuum frame) for the university many years ago. Somewhat disappointed in it, but managed to put it together even with the mis-cut boards and it did serve us well.

Yours came delivered as a kit? Mine was fully assembled and ready to go right out of the box.

[Alan9940]

+1 for the Richeson brush!!

[Michael Mutmansky]

+1 for the Richeson brush!!

Yes, they are a real game-changer...

For smaller prints, (8x10, 11x14 and small tests, etc.), I use a 1-1/2" brush. For larger prints, I have a 4" brush. I've had the same 1-1/2" brush since 2002 or so, for 1,000's of prints, I'm sure. Doesn't look like new anymore (I stripped the paint off the handle after it started flaking, and the bristles have darkened from the palladium salts). But, it performs like new still.

I should probably get a 3" brush for intermediate prints, because the 4" is a bit unwieldy for anything but the largest prints. The bristles can flop a bit, and that can spatter the solution if you aren't careful.

The thing about the coating rod is that it is possible to actually be too good with the rod; you work to minimize the solution, and the rod allows you to make a seemingly perfect coat very quickly in a single swipe or two, before the paper starts to curl. But, you do it at the expense of dmax, and this is insidious in that it looks sooo good and smooth (in fact, it is a great coat!), but there is so little solution in the paper fibers that you won't achieve a good dmax. Plus the paper can solarize very easily in the shadows, sometimes actually inverting in tone a bit, but most normally just looking very flat and weak into the shadows.



---Michael