RE: Question(s) for Ziatype practitioners

Hi Loris,

Sullivan & Weese wrote a short section of several paragraphs in their book
The New Platinum Print covering the use of gold with Ziatype printing. You
may find the last two sentences in the section a useful guide for using
sodium tungstate and gold additives.

"Tungstate and gold also get along well. The increased contrast of a 30%
gold Ziatype can be compensated for by several drops of tungstate, with a
resulting gun-metal blue/green/gray color that, while perhaps not to
everyone's taste, may be perfect for some subjects and certainly looks
unique."

As for split toned ziatypes, it has been my experience that cesium palladium
solution used with sodium ferric oxalate will yield split tones and add some
contrast (AFO will split also). I have never gotten split tones when using
lithium palladium solution and gold alone. BTW, you can't mix gold chloride
with cesium palladium, as noted in TNPP, "...but a drop of gold added to
CsPd results in a small puddle of expensive mud."

Also from the TNPP, a 50-50 combination of CsPd and LiPd will produce split
tones with warm midtones and highlights with neutral DMAX. And that has been
my experience.

Even though the ziatype process is a POP process I normally print by time
not by inspection. Each time you open the back of your contact printer the
humidity of the print will change causing the printing characteristics of
the drop mix to change. I use a mylar sheet behind the paper to aid as a
vapor barrier to help trap the humidity of the paper in the contact printer.

You can also make POP platinum and palladium prints with the standard
palladium and platinum solutions when used with AFO. Platinum is a great
additive to use with LiPd to modify contrast and tonal structure of the
print.

The ziatype process is very flexible, like a piece of plastic; good ziatype
printing requires a fair amount of practice and experimentation to be able
to produce predictable results. Once you start you may be hooked! If you
plan to continue printing ziatypes TNPP is a worth while book to have.

My 2 cents,

Don

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Loris Medici [mailto:loris_medici@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 4:56 PM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: Question(s) for Ziatype practitioners
>
> I just received a small amnt. of Lithium
> Chloropalladite in order to try making Ziatypes.
>
> 1. What should be the percentage of Ammonium Ferric
> Oxalate solution? (I have it in dry form - puchased to
> make New Cyanotype sensitizer originally but then I
> was delighted to learn it's also a nice POP sensitizer
> for Platinum/Palladium; I mean Ziatype or Ware/Malde
> variants)
>
> 2. I want to make split toned prints like Weese (I
> like the his orchid image + second Ziatype gallery in
> B&S site very much!). I have the book by James,
> reading the Ziatype article I noticed that gold
> addition makes a cool and high contrast print, sodium
> tungstate addition makes a warm and low contrast
> print. So my question is: if I mix a solution
> consisting 12 drops of ammonium ferric oxalate, 6
> drops of lithium chloropalladite, 4 drops of gold
> chloride and finally 2 drops of sodium tungstate. Do
> you think this will yield a split toned print like
> prints by Weese? Do you think that the addition of
> sodium tungstate will balance the high contrast of
> gold? What are your workflows to achive that kind of
> results?
>
> 3. Not exactly Ziatype related but what is the exact
> effect of treating paper in 1% oxalic acid? I have
> very limited paper choices so I may have to take some
> measures to prevent problems with paper. In Ziatype,
> what are the most significant problems with paper?
> Solutions?
>
> P.S. 1: I know trying is the best way to learn but as
> I have very little solution I want to learn more/be
> informed as much as possible more before making the
> first tests.
>
> P.S. 2: BTW, I will use the KAuCl2 variant, not AuCl3
> - I guess it will not make much difference because I
> have successfully used KAuCl for toning Vandykes. What
> do you think?
>
> TIA,
> Loris.
Received on Tue Jul 27 21:39:15 2004