Re: Finding supplies

David Milton (dmilton@csus.edu)
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 20:24:42 -0700

All of the above, and then some. I am fortunate in that PMK is very accessible
because Gordon Hutchings (the inventor of PMK) lives in Sacramento, CA (my hometown
as well). Once you learn of a process you want to try, you seek out other
individuals that have done that process, then you learn the process as well as their
sources for materials.

Also, since Gordon published the formula for PMK, I could have mixed my own supply if
neccesary. As you may know, not every chemical is readily available in small
quantities or even available at all. I see the day when all chemicals will be banned
in California under the guise of trying to stop meth labs or because of the fear
chemicals (if improperly handled) can cause cancer.

In essence, photo hobbies are like dope; once additicted, nothing can stop the
enthusiast from obtaining his/her chemicals.

David P. Milton

Joseph O'Neil wrote:

> First off, I wish to thank everyone for thier splendid postings on the use
> of Pyro. The net can be a great place at times for obtainign relatively
> obscure information, and it sure was a help to me to read all of those
> messages.
>
> Here's a question that has alway nagged me. How do people find thier
> supplies? For example, as far as I know (and I could be wrong), there is
> only one place in all of Canada that sells PMK Pyro and printng out paper.
> Most alt-process materials do not even seem to be commercially produced
> anymore. Weird, but I suppose by today's standards, colour dye transer
> could be considered an "alt-process".
>
> I've found sites on the net that sell photo cehmistry supplies, but I am
> jsut intertest how most people go aobut gahtering thier materials. Part of
> my interst lies is the fact that I write article for a national astronomy
> journal here in Canada, and one of my futre article ideas is how hard it is
> obtain supplies and equipment for the serious amature. To me, it is
> interesting to draw parallels to other (for lack of a better term) "unique
> hobbies". I see two trends emerging in society. First, there seems to be
> a return to "traditional" arts and skills - eveyrthing form home brewing of
> beer to quilting to amature blacksmithing and on and on and on. Secondly,
> despite there being a new shopping mall built on just about every major
> street corner in the US & Canada, the actual range of mechandise avaialbe
> for people to buy seems to be shrinking. In almost every case, supplies
> for "traditional" arts are hard to obtain.
>
> So, if you do not mind be wavering too far off topic here, how do people
> gather thier suppleis together? Do they make their own, bug the heck out
> of the local camera store to carry what they need, etc.
> take care
> joe
>
> http://www.multiboard.com/~joneil
> B&W, Large Format Images From Southern Ontario