Tween - Mixing for use in Alternative Photographic Processes

[@gerryyaum]

Thanks Bill..your leading me into the world of Platinum-Palladium....love it

[@gerryyaum]

Mixed my first TWEEN today, thanks Bill

[@BillSchwab]

Excellent! If you’re using the Hahnemüle paper, it definitely needs it.

[@gerryyaum]

@@BillSchwab Yes I am, based on your recommendation Bill, thanks. I used Citric Acid to acidify the Tween a bit (2% solution in distilled water. It was the only acid I had.

[@gerryyaum]

@@BillSchwab yes...plan on trying my first tests next week when I am off work...owe you lots Bill. Your allowing me to make Pt/Pd prints, without you it never would have happened. Hope to do up many of my doc images from Thai.

[@GeertWarta]

Learned so much, great videos, it has already improved my printing

[@BillSchwab]

Fantastic!! Thanks for posting!

[@mikecastles]

Excellent and timely, was needing to purchase some more Tween, now I can just make some up.

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you, Mike! The oxalic really helps. I was using a fair amount of tween to extend and the alkalinity was definitely effecting my clearing.

[@SherryHudson-t8k]

Great video Bill, I wonder if you will be doing a video on mixing the palladium chemistry?

[@BillSchwab]

Hi Sherry. Already have one for you. This is specifically for mixing the palladium chloride for printing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKfEmZ96bM2rmq8

[@SherryHudson-t8k]

@@BillSchwab Thank you!!

[@stealthvanlife6867]

Another excellent video Bill. Fantastic info and great presentation once again. Keep going!!

[@lhuhnphotography]

Thanks Bill for another informative video. I use Tween with every p/p print,but I learned something new about it today. Also, I love the MC5 t-shirt! I am a northern Ohio boy originally.

[@BillSchwab]

Glad it could help some, Larry. And thanks on the shirt! One of my all-time favorite bands.

[@gracianapiaggio]

Thank you so much for the video. Can I use it for gum printing also?

[@BillSchwab]

It does work well for gum. Thank you

[@fbraakman]

Like your videos. It's easier to test ph of the tween with the pH strip if it is made wet with neutral pH water first. Not totally necessary, but it's kind of a standard lab procedure.

[@gerryyaum]

Can you instead use Citiric acid to bring up the acid level in Tween? 2% solution? Thanks Gerry

[@BillSchwab]

Yes, Gary. Remember that there’s a shelf life on this stuff.

[@gerryyaum]

@@BillSchwab ok..picked up some citric acid and tween last night, will mix next week. How long is the self life of the mixed formula?

[@amgphoto76]

i wish you had demonstrated applying an emulsion with and without tween in it and the resulting prints. i am having alot of difficulties incorporating it into VDB using COT 320 as the coating absorbs way too quickly and results in streaky uneven prints. im using 1 drop pure Tween20 per 8ml of emulsion for 6x6" prints. not even getting close to acceptable results as described by others. im trying to increase the Dmin in my prints and was hoping Tween20 would help.

[@BillSchwab]

Sorry to hear you’re having problems. Some Papers don’t respond well to tween and I’m not sure, but COT might be one of them. Sometimes it makes them absorb too much emulsion. Unfortunately it’s never been one of my favorite papers and I don’t have any experience with it and tween. Try using either less or none at all. As I mentioned, some papers respond better than others and some, like Hanamuhle platinum rag, which is a great paper, definitely needs tween. Not sure if you've tried other papers, but I've had great luck with Van Dykes on that paper.

[@BillSchwab]

That’s a great suggestion. Thank you.

[@amgphoto76]

@@BillSchwab i appreciate the response! i have run the VDB process "straight" and gotten to a result i think is pretty good. i am now trying to tweak it to improve results even more hence the inclusion of Tween20. my desire is to increase Dmin and overall contrast. Been debating relying on using Humidity vs inclusion of Potassium Dichromate to developer vs using Tween20 and was hoping that Tween20 would be the magic bullet that ended the debate. VDB does really well on COT320 by itself though i have lined up several other papers to test including Hahnemuhle Platinum and Fabriano Artistico.