Masking and Coating Paper for Platinum / Palladium Printing

[@michaelspahn3675]

very nice clean workflow, thank you for showing us. I will try it with my Van Dycke prints.

[@andrefelixstudio2833]

Here is an idea put the tape on the extra paper so that when you put the paper down on it already has the tape attached to it. Great video! Beautiful job great result!

[@BillSchwab]

Yes, I’ve tried. It would seem a good idea, but it actually makes things more difficult.

[@libbypscott]

It's eerie hearing about the beginnings of Covid again. Who would have figured how it would play out. I spent lock down tasking Epidemiology classes online with Johns Hopkins. I took 9 classes all together. Next step- grad school- NOT. It was just as good way to process what was happening at the time. When Covid hit, my husband and I moved from our home in San Diego to our summer home deep in the northwoods of Wisconsin. It was the perfect place to hide from the world and take on an adventure. I know that you are a Michigan northwoods person so figured that you would understand. (I went to Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for high school so am familiar with that northwoods as well.) The adventure portion had everything to do with our summer home being an 120 years old log house on an island that was never meant to be winterized. The first fall I knew we were in trouble when the temp in the one and only bathroom hit 42F in October. We ended up getting a bit creative, called some handy friends from Chicago- and next thing you know we are back to 70F in the house eve=n temps hit -20F. If you have time google earth this: 4357 Sienna Dr, Star Lake, Wi.- then pan over to the island. We are now on our 3rd winter and love it! That being said, my job description doesn't include snow blower and tractor duty! Just imagine us with a series of sleds and a funicular on the island to schlep our supplies over from the mainland and up the hill on the island. It's worth it!! I do believe I recognized someone in your intro. I do believe I saw Dan Burkholder working on a gilded print? I took digital negs and platinum printing with him years ago at Santa Fe- and last year took the gilding class online with him He is such a great guy- and fabulous teacher! At any rate, I wanted you to know how much I'm enjoying your videos. Thank you for doing such a great job with them. It's really helped to pull me out of my "where's the sun" mood that I find myself in these days. I am rethinking my photography these days and think I will focus solely on alternative processes going forward. I just have to figure out my "dim room" in the basement/ laundry room of the log house.... I look forward to meeting you at Photostock this summer!

[@BillSchwab]

Libby! This is an excellent post! I have to digest it a bit, but yes, I understand your adventure completely. Getting ready to drive my boy back up to Northern Michigan University in Marquette. I’ll digest this more and respond later. Thank you!

[@gerryyaum]

Looking at coating platinum prints by hand, to darken and make the image more glossy. Doubtful that would be archival but I want to give it a try, check out the look. There was a video on what to use to coat the print (not sures Bill), but having trouble finding it. Will keep looking. Thanks as always, your vids always inspire me to work harder.

[@DFish111]

Nice process. You can save a bit of tape by attaching the paper strips to the sections of masking tape prior to affixing said tape to the paper.

[@BillSchwab]

Unfortunately, in my experience, this is not the case. It’s best to use the printed paper as the first paper the tape comes into contact with to keep it straight. I’m a pretty frugal guy and I’ve tried it your way with not a whole lot of success. This is not one of those areas where I conserve.

[@alejandro.gulminelli]

great work, thanks for sharing

[@bradfrompotter4653]

Wonderful!

[@rhodespottery]

Thanks for this demo. I have two questions. Why do you mask the negative? If the emulsion is masked, shouldn’t that create the clean edge you are after. I have tried your method and had trouble aligning the negative with the masked emulsion if the negative is dark along the edges. The masked negative means you cant see beyond the negative to get the proper registration. How do you handle this? Thanks again, your work is truly inspiring.

[@BillSchwab]

Hi Berry. Great question. It’s a bit overkill, but I really like to have the control of the negative border. Sometimes, if I mask the emulsion and then put the negative on without masking, I too will miss my target and either get a rough edge, or a black line. Sometimes I also get a little bleed over where I have a little too much emotion and it can sometimes lead to fogging on the edge of the negative. As you mentioned, registration can be an issue, but I do the registration on a light table so that I can see the emotion through the negative. This helps me get proper registration, but there is the occasion that I get it a little off as well. I hope this explains things a little better and helps.

[@stevehanrahan4817]

Great to see your instructional videos! Regarding the Tween, since you use a fairly large amount, do you do anything to make sure it gets washed out?

[@BillSchwab]

Hi Steve! Nothing special is needed to wash the tween out. It comes out through the natural process of processing and washing the print.

[@slotown1978]

Can you demonstrate how you frame your prints. Do you use a dry mount?

[@BillSchwab]

That’s a great question and suggestion. I used to dry mount all my silver gelatin prints, but only using a removable dry mount tissue. I loved having them flat, but I didn’t like the idea that if the board got damaged, so did the photograph. I now just corner mount my Prints as most are alt process on watercolor paper.

[@lhuhnphotography]

I was achieving a clean border by simply printing a black border around the negative, but for some reason that stopped working for me. I added the lith and I was still getting a faint border around the print. I recently added the masking tape to the paper before coating and still having an issue. I am pretty sure the paper is the issue. I am using HPR, which has always been trouble free, but now I am having several issues with it.

[@BillSchwab]

Hmmmm…. Are you printing in Palladium? I’m wondering if by any chance your Ferric oxalate might be outdated? I’ve not had any issues with HP yet, but I’ve been working from the same batch for a long time. I’m out at a workshop in California right now teaching and working from a different batch of HPR and everything seems fine. Perhaps you got a bad batch. I’ll think on this some more.

[@charleyh1480]

Thank you for sharing! I noticed that you only used a palladium solution for this print with no platinum. Can you tell me what exactly what each solution does for the image when it comes to tone and contrast? I tried looking up palladium only prints and platinum only prints with the image varying widely. Thanks again!

[@BillSchwab]

Hi Charley, Good question. There is a little platinum in there in the form of Na2. But only a tiny amount that I use for some brightening. (upcoming video) It is largely a strictly palladium print that has been developed in Potassium Oxalate. As for tones, developer plays a role as well as developer temperature. Another common developer is Ammonium Citrate, but I find that too course and a bit too cool in tonal rendition than I like. Potassium Oxalate is a little bit warmer developer and that warm tone in the print can be pushed to an almost red by heating the developer to varying degrees. Be careful to do this with good ventilation as the PO will outgas a bit when heated and it is best not to breathe.

[@F1lmtwit]

I'm surprised you ahven't picked up a Nuarc along the way?

[@jurg3n3stanislao]

Won't this work by just masking the negative? Curious to know from experience.

[@bobbybrown8417]

How many minutes are you exposing your prints?

[@BillSchwab]

Bobby Brown ... My maximum Black on this plate burner is nine minutes. I’m going to be getting to digital negatives in the upcoming video which will explain a little bit more about exposure times. Basically you want to go for your maximum black.