RE: price of pt/pd printing

Chris,

Well How much Na2 are you using? And at what concentration? (DAMN expensive
stuff compared to a bottle of H2O2, or some dichromate)One little drop of
H2O2 3% full strength would pop most negs at a 4x6 size. And since you have
no platinum in your solution (once you remove the Na2), you don't need to
concern yourself with platinum coming out of solution, add several drops.
Dilute it if needed. And when your done, use the rest to gargle or rinse
after brushing.

Perhaps this will get you thinking as well. If you buy 1) 50 lbs bag of
Potassium Carbonate and 1) 55 lbs bag of Oxalic Acid, How many gallons of
Potassium Oxalate can you make? .... That's right. 25 gallons. Or about
100 liters. 1000 g of Potassium Oxalate cost a recent student of mine about
39.00 or enough to make about 3 liters or $13.00/l

The two bags of chemicals only cost $65.00 or .65/l .

For another hundred dollars I can buy enough supplies (ferrous ammonium
sulfate) to make 2.5 liters of Ferric Oxalate so 20 drops of ferric is only
.04.

Palladium is running about 10.80/g right now but Platinum is about 27.00/g
and Platinic Acid (H2) is about 23.5/g. The way I mix palladium, that is
costing about 1.35/ml. SO at (20drops/ml) 13 drops = .88 cents/4x6 print.

The paper cost can be as much as the chemical cost or more. 25 sheets of COT
320 from Freestyle cost me 135.00. $5.40/sheet Depending on how much paper
edge you like to see, you might get 6 to 12 prints out of one sheet. Or
.90/sheet to .45/sheet. There are other sheets that could easily bring down
the cost to .15/sheet.

Then there is the expertise to make a good print. Now that is priceless!

Masking with Ruby lith $$$, multiple mask $$$, drafting tape $$$. Test
prints x ???

At the risk of saying your time is more valuable than the small amount of
waste, how about gang printing. Coat a 20x24 piece, lay a bunch of like
contrast negs together, and print away. To individually go to 4x6 might be
the most expensive decision that you have suggested. And if not 20x24, what
about 16x20? 12 prints on one sheet. You could use a sheet of ruby lith to
cut 12 openings, precise layout makes for easy cutting saving time and yes,
MONEY! Now go buy yourself that grande latte and get printing!

All kidding aside, if you are looking for cost cutting techniques with
platinum printing one should look for good low cost paper, buy bulk when
possible, and stay away from Na2 as a contrast agent if you are on a budget.
I am glad that I had my Platinic Acid (same as Na2 but substitute H for Na)
for toning. I bought it when platinum was only 10.5g.

 
 
EJ Neilsen

Eric Neilsen Photography
4101 Commerce Street
Suite 9
Dallas, TX 75226
http://e.neilsen.home.att.net
http://ericneilsenphotography.com
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christina Z. Anderson [mailto:zphoto@bellsouth.net]
> Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 10:55 PM
> To: Alt list
> Subject: price of pt/pd printing
>
> Good eeeevveeeening,
>
> Well, while Dan B. is chitchatting away to Europe on free internet phones,
> I
> am having a ball printing palladium. After gum printing for 2 years
> solid,
> I am taking a breather with this ironic idea of the blurry family photo
> album. I decided I was sick and tired of happy smiley family albums (when
> dysfunctional families abound), and that I would make my own album that
> would last 400 years--as pt/pd would--for all posterity to see (probably
> only to see how weird their great great great great grandma was). So I'm
> printing a bunch of snapshotty type imagery, blurry, angsty, unpoetic and
> the like, in 4x6 size, tipped into a black handmade photo album with photo
> corners. Sam thinks I am nuts, I'm sure.
>
> So as I was basking in my oh-so-very-postmodern irony of printing **this**
> type of imagery in pt/pd, I suddenly freaked about just how much this will
> ultimately cost. I sat with calculator, droppers, ml graduates, anything
> to
> avoid facing my final thesis corrections.
>
> This is what I figured, and I am asking all you perfect(ly normal) pt/pd
> printers out there if these calcs seem reasonable:
> A 4x6 print with magic brush takes 13 drops (i love that magic brush).
> A price per drop (B and S pricing at the small quantity 25 ml price) was:
> 2 cents ferric,
> 13 cents palladium,
> and 6 cents Na2.
>
> Thus a 4x6 costs 96 cents. At the 100 ml price it is only 64 cents.
> Heck, that isn't bad at all, given diginegs with curves that give
> predictable prints!
> So my blurry family photo album will really only cost me about 4 times as
> much as if I had it printed at Walmart! And it'll last 8 times as long!
>
> Of course this doesn't include the price of ammonium citrate, citric acid,
> EDTA, Pictorico, paper, depreciation of the magic brush, replacing worn BL
> bulbs, electricity, time, ink, depreciation of my computer and my
> printer....
>
> Deep thoughts for the night--I really should have gone to bed long ago....
> Chris
Received on Fri Apr 8 15:09:58 2005