Prints Options

[moschops]

For the past 2 years I have been studying various 19th-century printing methods and have started printing some of my absinthe photographs.

This one is a palladiotype printed from a 4x5 negative on Arches Platine paper.

[Provenance]

I like that. You need to post more. Are you using any platinum?

[Artemis]

Conjuration in quicksilver.

Nice.

[moschops]

I do use platinum, but only mixed with palladium. Very few people use platinum by itself, and for some good reasons beyond cost(though Pd is certainly not cheap). Most modern prints labeled as 'platinum' are in fact Pt/Pd prints, or platinum-toned kallitypes(Ag replaced with Pt).

Vintage platinums are a different story. The metal was much cheaper, and the commercially made paper was machine coated. Pt prints were very common, peaking at around 1900-1905, and like the absinthe of the same period, no one today is exactly sure how the commercial paper was made. Paper made by the Platinotype Company is as different to today's hand-coated paper as Pernod Fils is to today's HG--but both can really shine(or not)! There are some interesting parallels between CO platinum and CO absinthe in their rise and fall. Platinum was banned from use in photography and jewelery in 1914, and given a new exclusive use in weapons-making. After WWI the price had gone up 5-fold, and that was pretty much all she wrote. Smaller film formats and the rise of cheaper silver enlargement paper took over.

Speaking of quicksilver, they used to print with mercury too, but I don't think I'll be trying that one.

Back to palladium…

[Artemis]

As children, we played with mercury any chance we got. Watch it roll around in the palm of your hand; take and rub a quarter with it to make it really shine. Brought knives to school, too.

[G&C]

We also walked down the street with long guns that were loaded and had pockets full of extra ammo…

[moschops]

Yup, I broke a couple thermometers--perhaps on purpose--in my day. There's a big difference in the safe handling of elemental mercury and the mercury salts used in printing. The salt's water-solubility makes it extremely easy for it to enter your body.

My school weapon of choice was a shortened bayonet.

[Kirk]

Beautiful work Chops!

[Provenance]

moschops,

Thank you. That's just the sort of information I was looking for, particularly with regard to the aesthetics and history. You do beautiful work.

[Poe]

Nice work, the second one is fantastic

[Jaded Prole]

Beautiful work.

[moschops]

Thanks, folks.

For those interested in the history of printed images MoMA published a nice book that gives an overview of dozens of different processes.

[moschops]

[Kirk]

What kind of absinthe did you use?

[moschops]

This is Vieux Carré, which is the only truly decent absinthe available to me in western MA(hint to distributors). Tasty, but not my first choice to photograph as the bottles I get tend to be heavy on sediment and need to be decanted.

MA has a real nanny state mentality when it comes to booze. They don't allow interstate shipping, and what is on the shelves here is the same triumvirate: Lucid-Kubler-Pernod. I'm lucky I can even get VC.