Re: Palladium BWK, warmer tones
William Laven (wmlaven@platinotype.com)
Sun, 04 May 1997 10:50:39 -0700 (PDT)
>Just a quick update on my BWK (Big Wet Kiss) experiments. The process
>continues to work terrifically well.
>
>I have running tests with pure
>palladium recently and have found (as one would expect from the
>literature) that heating potassium oxalate developer up to the steaming
>point, will result in siginificantly warmer tones. I don't really like
>working with the hot developer because of the fumes, but I have minimized
>the problem by using a sheet of clear plexiglas to cover the tray after I
>add the developer.
>
>The only downside is slightly enhanced grain -- which some people might
>like for certain types of photos, and some black "bathtub ring" in my
>trays. I assume this is sensitizer runoff due to using more sensitizer
>than necessary. I will continue to explore what is the minimal amount of
>sensitizer required for this method. However, it doesn't seem to be much
>of a problem with room temp. developer. It becomes a problem when it
>leaves little swirls of "bathtub ring" on the paper, though it has always
>been near the edge of the paper where the developer sloshes back on it
>when rocking the tray.
>
>The blacks are still dark and rich using either the room temp. developer
>or the hot developer. In other words, the alleged run-off is not
>degrading the image.
>
>That's it for now. More news as it happens.
>
>David Fokos
I have mentioned on this list before, I think, that I run my prints in a
Jobo drum. One of its many advantages is that if the developer were heated
as Dvae explains above, you'd have no fumes at all. I also use PO developer
(though only at 75°, and use sodium dichromate as a contrast agent. With
the Jobo its so easy; I have many bottles of developer in a tempering bath
and can easily switch from one to another without messing with filling a
developer tray then dumping it and filling it again with another contrast
developer. Also, one doesn't need an expensive Jobo to work this way. I
also have an inexpensive Beseler reversing roller agitator with drums that
does just as good a job.There are occasions when I get those "bathtub"
rings too, but they disappear with some good fresh lcearing agent, also
run, of course, in the jobo.
*************************************************************************
PLATINUM/PALLADIUM WORKSHOPS AND PRINTING
William Laven Photography
1931 23rd Street, San Francisco, CA, 94107
415-647-9432 (voice) 415-647-9438 (fax)
wmlaven@platinotype.com
*************************************************************************