I just finished trying my first palladium prints, and already I'm hooked. After spending a lot of time researching and reading Dick Arentz's book, I bought the Bostick & Sullivan kit with some Crane's Platinotype paper, dug out some 5 x 7 negatives, and finally tried it. I used sun for exposure and learned a lot from only doing a few prints.
Immediately, I decided I needed a light box. Mainly, because it's 110 degrees here right now and only being able to expose in the middle of the day has it's drawbacks. So, yesterday, I built a light box with fluorescent lights. Here is where I'm confused. In Dick's book, he indicates that Aquarium tubes are better to use than black light tubes. So that is what I bought down at the home center. However, in looking around the internet and getting some information on home built light boxes, everyone says to use black light tubes (no mention of aquarium tubes). I got on the GE website for information and didn't find a whole lot. What I did find was that both the Aquarium and Black Light tubes put out UV A light in the 315 - 400 nm range, but it didn't say if one put out more than the other.
So, now I' confused - should I have bought the blacklight tubes instead of the aquarium tubes?
By the way - this pt/pd printing is way to cool!!!
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