RE: price of pt/pd printing

Chris,

Faint PT/PD bleeding? Or fogged exposure area? If you are seeing bleeding on
the print, try developing with the image upside down in the tray. You may
also need to increase your soak in time with papers that show bleed off.
You may also be putting to much solution on your paper. Continue upside
down through the first two clearing baths and that should greatly help. Make
sure you have enough liquid in the tray to prevent abrasion of the print
with this procedure. If you still see bleeding after attempting those steps,
you might be getting continued bleeding during your wash steps. I have seen
bleeding with some clearing/paper combinations as well. Give your print a
good back side squeegee away from the darkest area to prevent that bleed off
from showing up.

If you are getting fogging of the edges that should be paper white, you may
need to consider to put you negative on top of your ruby mask or use ruby
tape around the backside of the opening; that which is in direct contact
with the paper. Light can travel along your negative material and expose
the coated area to enough light to give you fogged edges.

As for you other bleeding... When I worked at a frame shop many years
back, we'd call that putting yourself into the work a bit too much if your
blood stained the work. I hope these were small staples and no those used to
put the frame together but rather those used to hold the work in the frame.
Either way I hope you recover with no ill effects.

The Platinum and Palladium pricing I gave were quotes for 10 g and 30 g
respectively, and they were within the last week.

If you only have a bottle of 5% Na2, I'd recommend making a 1 to 2% solution
as well. Small prints don't need much and 5% seems rather high to me. In
my recent diginegs made on UCF and Cone Inks, my 16x20 prints didn't even
require more than 4 drops of 1%.

Hope that helps
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: Saturday, April 09, 2005 9:39 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: Re: price of pt/pd printing
>
> Eric, Jeffrey, et al,
> Thanks for responding. Nice to get input from the pros in the field of
> pt/pd.
> First of all I have to share two calamities, one to excuse my typos if
> there
> are any: I just stapled clean into the palm of my hand while trying to
> get
> stuff framed for the show. NOT a good thing, when having to frame 40
> pieces. Blood spurting all over as I am wondering how dumb I could
> possibly
> be.
> Two, my order of 33 frames from Jerry's hasn't come; come to find out,
> they
> "lost the ticket". Oh my gosh. Blood pressure rising as my stuff needs
> to
> be framed by next friday. Wow.
> SO, to answer your question, below, Eric: I am using a 6/6/1 (1 drop Na2)
> for my mix, so not much of that and at a dilution of 5%.
> WOW, what a price dif for bulk.
> What is amazing, is that when I calculated my cost of pt/pd, I agree with
> Jeffrey--it is not that bad! I was figuring $2-6 a print, but 96 cents is
> less than a latte! But at bulk, I see I could save quite a bit of money.
> Unfortunately, I think since gum is my process of choice that I would have
> to share quantity chems with someone to be able to use that amount.
> Good to know that the cost is mostly in the paper.
> Ganging--great idea. Right now I gange my negs, 2 to a page.
> BTW, how do I get rid of the faint pt/pd on the outside edge of the 4x6
> image area, where my opaque border is protecting exposure?
> Chris
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Neilsen" <e.neilsen@worldnet.att.net>
> > 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
Received on Sun Apr 10 13:57:54 2005