Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Wed, 10 Mar 1999 16:54:22 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Mar 1999, Kevin O'Brien wrote:
> Hi Dick,
>
> Pd/Pt can be no substitute for the deep,Van Dyke, brown that iron-silver
> produces. It has a special quality that the iron imparts like Hooker's green
> or Prussian blue. As a painter no substitutes are acceptable.
>
> Pd/Pt is a beatiful process with its own character and I want both.
>
> Presumably the nitric gasses are the brownish oxides of nitrogen. Is the
> process still too hazardous with a fume cupboard or out of doors ? I respect
> your sensible caution but I am well used to working carefully with strong
> reagents.
Excuse me, we seem to have backed into a dead end here, as if there were
only two options: make your own silver nitrate/silver oxide or do platinum
printing.
Artcraft sells silver oxide for $1.40 a gram if you buy 15 or more grams,
$1.90 a gram if you buy fewer. You make a liter -- thats 10000000000 cc
of argyrotype with 76 grams of silver oxide. For 200 cc that would cost
(if my online arithmetic is working) about $30 plus the other ingredients.
Then you can buy a pound, that's 454 grams, of silver nitrate, from First
Reaction (special I believe for Post-Factory readers, but be my guest) for
$147. We are assured that making the silver oxide with some drain cleaner
is NOT beyond normal life (come innnnnnn, Bob Maxey !), and you might
unplug the sink while you're at it. Not that I've ever unplugged a sink
(come innnnnnnn, Jeffrey Mathias), have only heard about it by hearsay.
However I can direct you to the drain cleaner: Red Devil. Supermarket.
I don't know how the drain cleaner (aka sodium hydroxide) keeps, but I can
attest from *personal experience* that silver nitrate in either glass or a
heavy plastic bag in a cardboard carton keeps *indefinitely.* I've had
some in each for nigh onto 20 years.
I'm also writing something at this moment about Nelson's gold, a toner
that uses silver nitrate. In the old days they used it for hair dye --
oops I haven't done that either -- but I have some formulas in Dick's
Encyclopedia. I'll add that those of you who are as old as I am probably
had silver nitrate put in your eyes at birth. It used to be standard
procedure in hospitals in the belief (I think it went) that if the mother
had syphillis that would prevent the baby from getting blind. (Could I
make something like this up?)
cheeeeeeers,
Judy
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:09:02