From: Clay (wcharmon@wt.net)
Date: 04/28/03-03:50:08 PM Z
> That is certainly a good point. I asked a question yesterday about
> cost and would still like to know the answer from one of our Pt/Pd
> printers. What would be the cost in chemistry alone to make a mixed
> platinum/palladium print of about 20X24" in size, assuming that one
> buys the chemistry from a place like B&S or the Formulary?
Okay, here goes the financial math on the big pd print. First, assume
it is pure palladium, which is of course, the only way to do it, with
just enough homeopathic quantities of Na2 platinum to goose the
contrast and earn the coveted platinum-palladium label instead of the
more working class "palladium" moniker.
20x24 area = 480 sq in, which with the magic brush and a single coat
paper like Whatman's would require 4.8 ml of metal salt and 4.8ml of
ferric oxalate. At $1.65 per ml, that is $7.92 of palladium, and say, $
0.50 of Na2 platinum. The ferric would be 25 cents per ml, for a total
of $1.20. The Whatman's from Clay's Imported Stash of the Stuff is
roughly $5 per 32x22 sheet. Let's be extravagant and use the whole
thing. So I get $14.62 for a single coated beautiful
'platinum-palladium' print in materials costs. With my customary markup
of 1000%, it is easy to arrive at the $1500 dollars per print that I
ask for but never receive.
Yes, it would be financially painful, but not ruinous if one sneezed
during the coating operation. So how does this compare?
Clay
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