Which prompted Jim to ask:
> This is interesting. What are the advantages of sizing paper for platinum?
> What is
> the effect? How do your prints on hand sized paper differ from prints on
> unsized
> paper?
To which Terry replied:
>
> To be absolutely accurate and not wishing to mislead what I really meant
> was platinum palladium prints. I use the proportion of platinum to
> palladium as a means of contrast control.
>
> Some authorities say that platinum reacts adversely with gelatine and that
> one should not use gelatine size with patinum. My practical experience
> with light sizes has not been to this effect.
>
> I find that a lightly sized paper gives an improvement in apparent contrast
> to the extent that an unsized print looks good but a sized print looks
> better. The papers I use most for platinum printing are Saunders Waterford
> and Fabriano Artistico Satina.
And now Keith would like to add that most of the papers we use
including Waterford, Artistico, Platine and Platinotype are sized in
the manufacturing process. Most papers are internally sized, i.e.
the size is added before the sheet is formed . In general,
watercolor papers are also surface or tub sized, i.e. the size is
applied to the surface of the sheet. Unsized paper is known as
waterleaf (some examples are Arches 88, Magnani Pescia, and an
unsized version of Rives BFK). Also most Japanese papers are unsized
in the western sense, though a part of that process produces an
effect similar to sizing.
In my personal experience, neither Waterford or Artistico comes
anywhere close to Platine or Platinotype in producing the qualities I
look for in a paper for pt/pd. This is unfortunate as I really like
the look and feel of the former, especially Waterford. I have not
yet tried sizing them a la Terry, though I hope to soon.
Keith
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Keith Schreiber, Rights and Reproductions
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
PO Box 210103, Tucson AZ 85721-0103
Fon: 520-626-5164 Fax: 520-621-9444
Email: keith@ccp.arizona.edu
WWW: http://www.ccp.arizona.edu/ccp.html
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