Richard Sullivan (richsul@earthlink.net)
Mon, 10 May 1999 11:33:19 -0600
Amen to Carl's well expressed comments.
This discussion triggers some random thoughts.
* It is encouraging to see some experimentation and exploration of the
platinum printing process. Mike Ware, Tony McLean, Nze Christian, myself
and Carl Weese, and now Jeff Mathias come to mind as some of the modern
workers who are extending the platinum printing process. The more I explore
the process the more respect I have for the giants whose shoulders we stand
on. Willis, Abney, Pizzighelli, Clark first developed the pt process and
did not have the rich traditions to harvest that we are so lucky to have.
* My goal (and Carl's) has not been to make a better prints per se, but
to offer the printmaker more options and better controls. There is no "best
way" to make a platinum print. Carl expressed this very well in his
introductory essay in The New Platinum Print where he discusses the Holy
Grail concept of platinum printmaking. Carl then offered a brilliant coup
de gras for this concept in his "Summing it all up chapter" in TNPP.
* The Ziatype process is a work in progress. The more one pokes around
in it the more one realizes its future potential. As the number of
variables increases the permutations become astronomical.
--Dick Sullivan
At 06:51 AM 5/8/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Jeffrey,
>
>I'll be interested to try your modification to the Ziatype formula.
>
>As for Ziatype being another Pt/Pd print: that's exactly what Dick
>Sullivan and I presented it as in our book last year. We called the book
>"The New Platinum Print" (not "The Ziatype") specifically to indicate
>that the book would present a large overview of both old and new
>approaches to making prints in Pt/Pd. The traditional method, the Zia,
>and variations with brush development are all methods and control
>systems to give the photographer a range of color and tone options
>within the Pt/Pd medium. What's new about the book's approach is
>precisely that it treats all of these old and new methods as a single
>extended process offering creative options to the print maker. I hope
>your formula variation expands the pallette of options still farther and
>I look forward to testing it.
>
>---Carl
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