[alt-photo] Re: Weston Diploma Parchment

[Diana Bloomfield]

Jon,

I won't say "that paper is kinda crap," because a lot of people use it  
and have much success with it.  I will say that I tried it for pt/pd  
and did not like it at all-- not only the weight and fragility of it,  
but I also just didn't like the look of the final prints.  My feeling  
is, once you're shelling out beaucoup money for platinum and  
palladium, worrying about saving money on the paper doesn't make a lot  
of sense to me- if that's the only reason you're choosing to use it.   
I do like Arches Platine for pt/pd, as well as COT320, which you can  
get in an off-white or cream color-- though no one seems to have any  
in stock right now.

I would still suggest, if you haven't done this already, to coat the  
paper and allow it to sit in the dark to air dry-- no fan, no hair  
dryer-- and see if that makes any difference at all.  I don't know  
what your climate is like, but I also use a humidifier before I  
print-- literally holding the paper in the steam, and then coat.  Just  
suggestions here, but maybe worth a try.

Diana


>
> I guess I was hoping a whole bunch of people would reply saying  
> 'yeah, that paper is kinda crap' and I'd feel OK about trying  
> another. I quite like Platine but it is too heavy and white for this  
> series of photographs.
>
> To Diana: I have always used a hair dryer on these prints, mostly on  
> cool setting until the other night when I switched to warm to really  
> dry the bejeesus out of it.
>