[Alt-photo] Re: VERDICT ON FUMED SILICA?

[clay harmon's personal website email account]

I've been using sulfamic for buffer neutralization on my palladium prints for the last month. It works very well, even on heavily buffered papers like Fabriano Extra White. I am getting measured Dmax values of 1.4 or better on all the papers I have tried so far  (Rives BFK, Twinrocker, Moulin de Gue and Whatman's Printmaker). I am not as happy with it as the only clearing agent - I seem to still have some residual ferric oxalate in the paper if sulfamic acid is the only clearing agent I use. But  a regimen of a first bath of disodium EDTA followed by two baths of Hypoclear with Tetrasodium EDTA added to it seems to work extremely well. 

My experience with fumed silica has been mixed. It works very well on some papers (twinrocker in particular), but not as well on others. I am getting richer prints on Fabriano Extra White using the sulfamic acid approach than when I used the fumed silica.

-Clay
On May 30, 2013, at 3:00 PM, "BOB KISS" <bobkiss at caribsurf.com> wrote:

> DEAR LIST,
> 
>            Is the jury in with a final verdict on using fumed silica to
> increase Dmax of pt/pd prints?  
> 
> *****And now, the Touchstone question:  How many of you actually use it when
> you print pt/pd (or any other alt processes)?
> 
> 
> CHEERS!
> 
> 
> BOB
> 
> 
> 
> Please check my website:  <http://www.bobkiss.com/> http://www.bobkiss.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Live as if you are going to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you are going to
> live forever".  Mahatma Gandhi
> 
> 
> 
> "Earth" without "art" is just "Eh"!  (Anonymous graffiti posted on Facebook)
> 
> 
> 
> “Madonne e fiori, trionfo eterno di gioventù!”  from Mattinata Fiorentina by
> Antonella Ruggiero
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature
> database 8394 (20130530) __________
> 
> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
> 
> http://www.eset.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Alt-photo-process-list | lists.altphotolist.org/mailman/listinfo