To eliminate one more possible cause, try tearing your paper with a
straightedge rather than cutting it. I doubt this will solve the problem,
however.
It is not only Platine. I have recently experienced this problem on several
papers including Cranes Crest (Platinotype), Simili Japon, Lenox, and
Platine. And on one print I had a red spot - something I have not seen
before. Also I recently saw a print on Beinfang by Eric Neilsen with a black
spot, so its not just that paper.
When I last talked to Dick Arentz a couple weeks ago he said that he too had
been having this problem. The thing that seemed to solve it for him was to
filter his metal solutions through filter paper from a chemical supply
store. (Coffee filters are too coarse.) Apparently tiny grains of Pt or Pd
may precipitate out of solution and embed themselves in the paper. I have
examined coated sheets to try to find them before printing but with no
success. Heating the solutions may also help. I hope to check out one or
both of these ideas this week, time permitting.
Recently Jeff Mathias suggested that substituting a potassium palladium salt
for the usual sodium palladium salt has eliminated this problem for him.
Worth looking into.
Regards,
Keith
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen R Harrison <SRH@StephenHarrison.com>
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Date: Monday, May 25, 1998 10:06 PM
Subject: Platine tears and sorrows
>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
>
>
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