Wanchuk

Nice portrait and print. Could you please explain what "... over fumed silica ..." means?
Thanks,
Bert

Before you coat the platinum or palladium emulsion, you pre-treat the paper with a solution of fumed silica dissolved in distilled water. I don't know how to explain the physics/chemistry of what it does, but something about the silica molecules bonding to the paper surface helps boost contrast, especially the maximum blacks of the print.

Nice portrait.
I've tried fumed silica but didn't see much of a difference [mixed in blender with distilled water, then applied to paper with a foam-roller paint brush, then coated as normal]. Have you found a marked improvement in DMax?

@doughowk I will try it head-to-head with some single-coated prints to see if it or the double-coating is making the difference.