Platinum Particles (RE: Drying Pt/Pd. prints)

I have never tested the air with anything other than my nose, but I can tell
that the smell coming off a print is real. If you use platinum in your
sensitizer, even at low heat, you should be protecting yourself from
platinum particles. There are risks of a platinum related health problem
from breathing it. There does not seem to be the same risk with palladium.
Where on high or low, the particles are still going to leave the paper.

As for the soak in and it's relative effect... It has been my experience
that the sensitizer should get into the top of the paper but not much lower.
As the sensitizer penetrates the fibers, more and more of them will become
apparent. SO I strive to get the coating to soak in enough not to wash off,
give good dmax, and not allow me to see into the paper fibers. Each paper
requires testing and evaluation for soak in time, drying time - with or
without hair drying, and gentle dry time of hanging around (I do mine in a
drying box). Heat fog is also something to be avoided; this will lower dmax
and contrast. The amount of sensitizer per square inch is also very
important to the drying of paper and IMHO, is an integral part of the
coating and drying process. You can have the right amount of solution and
dry it incorrectly or with the wrong soak in time and get crappy looking
prints. Or great drying techniques with to much or too little coating
solution and never make a good print either.

Eric Neilsen Photography
4101 Commerce Street
Suite 9
Dallas, TX 75226
http://e.neilsen.home.att.net
http://ericneilsenphotography.com
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert W. Schramm [mailto:schrammrus@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 12:12 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: RE: Drying Pt/Pd. prints
>
> Sandy, et. al,
>
>
> I know that heat drying sensitized paper can cause a loss of contrast with
> cyanotype, VDB and other processes because I have tested it; howver, I
> have
> not noticed such an effect with platinum.
> That being said, I did read a reference that said that heat drying
> sensitized platinum paper could result in little particles of platinum
> sensitizer floating around the darkroom and this is not good stuff to
> breath
> in. I don't know if that is true but I have been gently air drying my
> sensitized platinum paper ever since, just in case.
>
> Like all things, I suspect that this is a matter of degree. So, a hair
> dryer
> turned on low heat and low speed would surely not produce a lot of
> "particles" like a hair dryer set at high speed and high heat.
> I think with platinum we would want the paper to dry slowly so that the
> sensitizer is absorbed into the paper rather than sit on the surface.
>
> Personally, I use a very small fan that gently moves air around the newly
> sensitized paper.
>
>
> Bob Schramm
>
> Check out my web page at:
>
> http://www.SchrammStudio.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: Sandy King <sanking@clemson.edu>
> >Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> >To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> >Subject: Drying Pt/Pd. prints
> >Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 18:16:00 -0400
> >
> >Does anyone know if using heat with a hair dryer to dry Pt./Pd.
> >prints has any affect on the Dmax or contrast?
> >
> >Sandy King
> >
> >
> >
Received on Sun Jul 4 08:56:52 2004