[alt-photo] Re: ARCHIVALITY

[Judy Seigel]

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010, Loris Medici wrote:

> In short; you have to give buyers some figures (according to display/storage
> conditions) that reflect reality, I mean if you want to keep your
> credibility. Plus, as an *extra* selling point, those figures has to be
> better than (or at least equal to) what is currently effective for ordinary
> / mainstream digital prints.

Since my prints tend to have a fair amount of (visible) handwork and 
density of pigment I assume they'd be hard to mistake for digital prints, 
but I write to expatiate on the reasons already given for using 
distilled water...

Unless you have your own private distillery, there's normal variation, by 
season, by runoff from recent rains, what died or took up residence in the 
previous source, the depth of the wells & more ... Plus, in a large source 
like NYC's.... what the boys & girls at the pumphouse decided to add that 
day (in line with the changing seasons, or if there's been a storm, or a 
drought,etc.) can sometimes quite dramatically change the water -- and 
that's not even counting what's going on in the vicinity.  For instance, 
we hear about plans (on or off, now mercifully off... forever?  who 
knows?) to drill for gas in the vicinity of the sources of NYC water.

I remember years ago, by the way, bringing home some water from Brooklyn 
when I was teaching there to Manhattan where I live... I don't remember 
the details, but it showed definite variation from echt NYC water !!  That 
could have been from the managers of the physical plant who definitely 
monitored the water supply, or from the heavens, but whichever, why take 
chances?

Water changes probably wouldn't be serious for gum printing, which is 
often a coat-and-see process, but for a highly calibrated medium like 
platinum, water changes could be deadly. Tho for $1/gallon (I suppose I 
date myself, that was the price last time I bought some) why take chances? 
My time is worth almost that much.  And especially for a medium used in 
small doses (like platinum), unless you're doing murals, a gallon lasts 
forever.

Judy