Good advice, but I'd take it further. Don't start on Pt/Pd. Get yourself
sorted out on something that is dirt cheap such as cyanotype before you
think about touching the noble (and expensive) metals.
I've got negatives that can be printed pretty well on both cyanotype and
platinum by the way - you can control the contrast of both processes to
some extent.
It might even (though heresy to say so here) be worth trying platinum on
machine coated paper before you go on to coat your own - if the Palladio
materials are stil available.
Peter Marshall
On Fixing Shadows and elsewhere:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s
Family Pictures, German Indications, London demonstrations &
The Buildings of London etc: http://www.spelthorne.ac.uk/pm/