I have not pursued that line of investigation any further. It had two
problems:
One, it left two little pencil marks where the probes touched the paper, and
two*, the meter pooped out just where the dryness was at the critical stage. I
was using a $30.00 Sears and Roebuck model and it didn't go real high in terms
of megohms.
The first problem can be solved by measuring the margins, but they are
typically dryer than the central portion. The second could be solved by buying
a more sensitive meter.
All in all, Carl Weese and I have found that humidity is easy to control and
this is probably overkill for Ziatypes. We have settled on a fixed point
humidity with using chemical controls for contrast and color controls.
Carl discovered what sounds obvious, (but for me the obvious takes a while to
discover -- I always overcomplicate things!) that if you run your darkroom at
60% humidity, Ziatype printing is a no brainer as far as humidity goes. Just
coat and dry in a room temperature airstream. It's real hard to get the paper
below 60% RH. I have to stretch it a bit to get to 60% here in Santa Fe, I
spray water all over the floor to get it started in the a.m. You being in Taos
will have the same high altitude humidity problem.
Warning! Commercial coming up
Carl Weese and I are writing a book on platinum and palladium printing called
"The New Platinum Print." This will be the most extensive work ever done on
the
handcoated platinum print. We have put lots of orignal research into the book.
This has been possible through the resources of B+S and Carl's brilliance in
taking some of my crazy ideas and refining them into workable procedures.
(This
is not to imply that Carl has not his share of crazy ideas.) Carl's
professionalism in the publishing trade has also been a super duper plus. I
just saw the initial layout design for the book transmitted yesterday via PDF
file and it's beautiful.
The book is not a rehash of traditional methods, though the traditional method
will be covered in detail with a few new twists. The approach we are taking is
to describe the various controls and methods that can be employed to make a
platinum or palladium print, including the Ziatype, traditional
platinum-palladium, and brush development methods. Rather take what I call the
"Keys to the Temple" approach where we reveal the "True" method of making a
print, our approach is to offer the printer many options to achieve differing
results. Ever seen a gun metal steel-blue-green palladium print?
The book should be out by mid-summer, perhaps earlier. (Ok enough bragging!)
(*now there is a line of investigation for the experimentally bent. Making
electro platinums!)
--Dick Sullivan
Bostick & Sullivan
PO Box 16639, Santa Fe
NM 87506
505-474-0890 FAX 505-474-2857
<http://www.bostick-sullivan.com>http://www.bostick-sullivan.com