Re: Ziatype and brown image color

CHPalmer@aol.com
Thu, 16 May 1996 11:20:41 -0400

Dick Sullivan wrote:

> I've been having a devil of a time producing consistent brown image color
in my
> Ziatype process.

Here is a different angle on brown image color in Zia/palladiotypes.

When I started platinum/palladium printing in 1989, I used Palladio paper and
chemicals. Palladio is a commercial platinum/palladium paper which is made
and sold by Rob and Sura Steinberg of Cambridge, Mass. They sell a chemical
which they call "brown toner" which is added to their citrate developer
(?sodium ?ammonium). It works very well: one can get anywhere from a
minimal brown tone up to a sepia effect with their paper or with hand-coated
palladium prints, depending on the paper your're using and the amount of
toner added to the developer. I have continued to use this product for the
past seven years with my hand-coated work, as I like very warm prints.

I don't know what the chemical is; maybe someone on the list knows.

At any rate, maybe this is worth a try with your Ziatypes. My standard paper
is Crane Platinotype, my prints are straight palladium, and I always humidify
(by steaming) the coated paper just prior to making the print in order to
increase the Dmax; so, their are some similarities between my standard
method and the procedure your're using with the Ziatype. As far as I can
tell, it works equally well with or without paper humidification.

I can send you some of the "toner" via snail-mail if you'd like to try it.

Charlie Palmer
Albuquerque NM USA