Platine tears and sorrows

Stephen R Harrison (SRH@StephenHarrison.com)
Mon, 25 May 1998 21:07:01 -0700

I still have problems with Platine and very small black fleks .I get some
specks of black in the highlights in spite of using a glass roller and no
contact known with metal. I pour the developer from a glass coffee pot with
no metal. I do not use any brushes. I am using potassium oxalate and sodium
dichromate as a developer in 7 different plastic bottles. My Ferric
Oxalate is usually mixed fresh with distilled water. I cut my paper with a
razor.

What is the frequency that printers are finding that platine itself is
bad?. When the people on this list talk about problems with platine, are
they referring to these contaminates. I think it was Kerik who buys a 25
sheet sample of platine while recording the batch number and then if it
tested OK, ordered the rest out of the same batch. How are you testing the
paper or are you just printing and looking for contaminates? What is the
smallest quantity you can buy to check it out first and then order from the
same batch.

Unfortunately, in a moment of creative bliss about a year ago, I ordered
not 25 sheets but 100 sheets of Platine.I assume that if it is the platine,
then the entire package has to be trashed and the paper cannot be vacuumed
or cleaned to remove metal contaminates from the original cutting done by
the manufacturer. If an order is bad, are the vendors providing any sort of
refund of payment on return of the paper? Is somehting being done to
correct this problem by Arches? Any guarantees if we buy directly from
Martin Axon?

I keep thinking that I am the one doing the contamination with some sort of
strange and subtle metal contact but I am very careful about this and yet
still, I get these very small tiny fleks of black. The fact that I am able
to print platinotype without these specs is ominous for the platine.
.

Stephen Harrison