cold tones in platinum

Hi everybody. I just started testing platinum a couple months ago

attending a workshop. I noticed there is a great variability in

results depending on paper used and so on. I am trying to get cold

tones , i.e. slightly blueish or greenish. I came closer by using a

Fabriano 5 paper , 50%cotton, which is VERY white compared to berrger

or even Platine papers. Any suggestions?

Thank you

Sergio,

 

Look into gold chloride as an addative in the sensitizer solution. It will cool down the image considerably.

 

Also, what developer, and what temperature are you using? Switching from heated potassium oxalate to room temperature ammonium citrate will also cool the image down.

 

Finally, increasing the amount of platinum in the sensitized solution will also cool the image a bit, but it can cause other problems (grittiness, among other things).

 

There are other ways out there to cool the image, including toning (gold chloride, mercuric chloride and others) will affect the image. Some of these will cool it off considerably. Many of the toning chemicals are extremely toxic, so care must be taken when doing this.

 

Good luck...

 

---Michael

thank you, as soon as my source of chems will get back from season holidays I will get some gold chloride to test it. A question though: should i make a third solution with the same concentration as the platimun and the palladium ones?

Hello,

 

Another way to get cold ton ito switch to Ziatype. The pure ziatype give a neutral tone and when you add gold it give really cold tone.

 

Using more platinum(in D.O.P) also help to get cold tone. A paper like Buxton platinotype (somawhat expensive)give me colder tone than others.

 

regards

Sergio,

 

You can probably get some 5% gold chloride solution. Put one drop of this in for every 20 drops of coating solution (obviously before you coat the paper!).

 

You can also apply it as a toner to a completed print, Here's a link to directions for gold toning a pt/pd print...

 

http://davidmichaelkennedy.com/tech_gold.html

 

 

---Michael