Joe Portale (jportale@gci-net.com)
Tue, 09 Mar 1999 20:24:36 -0700
Adam,
I sent you a e-mail off the list by accident. I worked with Argyro's for
about a year. They are really simple and turn out very lovely results. For
me, I found that a negative developed to around 1.8 - 2.0 yeilded the best
results. As stated by someone else, argy's are a modern version of the
kallitype. You can alter the color of the print, depending on what paper
you use, with toning. A neutral print color can be had with very dilute
selenium.
I used a heavy (300 lb) Cottmans water color paper (cold press) and still
help very delicate detail in the shadow and highlight areas. The only
reason that I stopped using the argy's was because my project was finished
and it was time to find a new playmate.
Joe Portale
At 01:41 PM 3/9/1999 -0800, you wrote:
>Great, the comments are rolling in. Much thanks - and keep them coming.
However, I'd like to address one issue now. A number of people have written
me offlist with comments similar to Dave's. I have done a lot of Pt/Pd
printing, and have even managed to get
>great deals on my precious metal salts- however, I really think it is
unfair to suppose that Pt/Pd/Zia are as cheap as Argyrotypes. Taken from
the Bostick & Sullivan website:
>
>All in 100ml Kit:
>
>Argyrotype: $28.70
>Ziatype Kit (Lithium): $167.70
>Ziatype Kit (Cesium): $184.00
>Classic Palladium (25ml $70.17): $140.00
>
>Granted the Argyrotype doesn't include the Hypo, but we can say $5.00
worth will provide
>plenty if bought in quantity (say, Bryant Lab).
>
>So, what gives? It looks to me like Pt/Pd/Zia is going to cost about 5x
more. And when
>you are considering 16x20 and beyond- this does get costly.
>
>-Adam
>
>
>Dave wrote:
>
>>
>> However, if you are going to go to the trouble and expense of making large
>> negatives, then why not do a Ziatype? Zia isn't any more expensive than
argyrotype
>> and the tonal range is much better. Plus the contrast is easily
controlled with
>> dichromate. A standard neg. (not high contrast) will work with the
ziatype. With
>> Ziatype you have to do a little mixing of the individual chemicals but
it isn't
>> difficult at all. Whether you do zia or argyrotype be sure to try a
small neg first
>> to get some practice.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Dave
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:09:02