Re: palladium bleeding, loooonnnnnggg results

I'll chime in with my experiences in the last few weeks (for those of you
that don't know, Chris and I live in the same town). I'm not sure
humidity has a whole lot to do with this issue, because I've been printing
on Platine without humidifying my paper all summer.

This may be something, or it could just be ridiculous (it may be downright
wrong), but I've modified my printing workflow on Platine over the last
few months and have not experienced any bleeding since then. Of course, I
only saw minimal bleeding to begin with, but my coating method may work
for you, Chris.

After coating, I only allow the paper to become dry to the touch, so the
sensitized area of the paper is still quite damp. As soon as the surface
of the paper is dry enough, I stick the paper in a hot press for about
15-25 seconds to get rid of wrinkles; this ensures a nice, solid contact
with the negative during exposure. The hot press is optional; I just hate
to see those big blurry spots on my prints, so I take the extra
precaution.

I've found that this method has two big advantages. First off, no
bleeding. The second one is sharpness. I've found that when I expose my
images while the paper's still damp, the image compresses when it dries,
and turns out to be quite a bit sharper than a straight digital print. Of
course, the image isn't as big as the original...

Anyway, this may be worth trying. Then again, it may just be a bad batch
of paper/chemistry/etc.

Camden Hardy

camden@hardyphotography.net
http://www.hardyphotography.net

On Sat, August 12, 2006 2:22 pm, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
> OK,
> I cant believe I gave up a nice relaxing breakfast with Mark Nelson to
> stay
> at home, pack, attend a wedding, and maniacially expose tonal palettes all
> the while, but here it is before I leave town....
>
> All am citrate--I decided to use the developer that has produced more
> bleed
> for me.
>
> Follows all Platine:
>
> 10 drops sensitizer--lotsa bleed
> 10 drops sensitizer + 2 drops extra ferric--lotsa bleed
> 10 drops sensitizer + 6 drops extra ferric--lotsa lotsa bleed and bled
> continually in the clear and the water wash afterward
> 10 drops sensitizer + 1 drop Tween--minimal bleed
> 10 drops sensitizer + 2 drops methylated alcohol--minimal bleed, more than
> Tween tho
> 10 drops sensitizer coated onto wet paper--no bleed, lots of printout
> before
> development and a weak print that did not clear well of ferric in EDTA
> Tetra
> plus sodium sulfite (of course, because I coated wet paper which one
> wouldn't do--I wanted to really test the extreme of humidity)
>
> Follows, Cranes Platinotype/Cover and Arches Platine am citrate developer:
>
> 10 drops sensitizer with new ferric oxalate on cranes cover: no bleeding
> 10 drops sensitizer new ferric oxalate on cranes cover with humidified--no
> bleeding
> 10 drops sensitizer new ferric oxalate on cranes cover with 2 drops
> methylated alcohol--no bleeding
> 10 drops sensitizer new ferric oxalate Arches Platine 2 drops methylated
> alcohol--lotsa lotsa bleeding (?? don't know why this is the case except I
> am using leftover chunks of Platine and therefore they may be from
> different
> batches of paper for all I know...)
> 10 drops sensitizer new ferric oxalate Arches Platine very little bleeding
> 10 drops sensitizer new ferric oxalate lots tween--no bleeding
>
> Well, can one possibly draw conclusions here with all these "one little
> tests"???
>
> I conclude that this batch of Platine bleeds more than cover. It could
> only
> be because cover is more absorbent. My guess is that either by humidity
> or
> tween or methylated alcohol and using the right paper, the solution sinks
> into the surface better and doesn't sit on top and bleed when it hits the
> developer.
>
> Decreasing the ratio of metal salts to ferric did not work, but I have not
> tried increasing the metal salts to see if that has an effect.
>
> My droppers all are 20 drops to the ml.
>
> My ferric could have been getting old. I tested it in some potassium
> ferricyanide and it immediately went brown and then slowly had a wave of
> green in it. However, I did the same with my new ferric and it was close
> to
> the same effect. But you will notice that overall I got less bleeding with
> the new ferric.
>
> What I will need to do when I return home is increase humidity in my room,
> use methylated alcohol or Tween (maybe the alcohol first choice only
> because
> Tween was a bit...soapy?...and I actually got a smoother tonal scale and
> more printing in of the highlights on Platine with methylated alcohol).
> But
> I don't think either is needed for Cover--only increase in humidity in the
> room and perhaps switching to sodium citrate. I do think the developer
> comes
> into play as well as that my batch of Platine may just be sized
> differently
> than the last.
>
> I think why troubleshooting is so hard with this particular issue is it
> looks like it is a combination of factors at work. But you all can look
> at
> the data and see what major point I am missing.
>
> Now to look at all the 101 tones in each tonal palette and see how they
> relate to the different methods, above--paper, Tween, methylated alcohol,
> etc.
> Regards,
> Chris
> CZAphotographycom
>
>
>
Received on 08/13/06-08:07:37 PM Z