Beth Moon

Platinum palladium.

I enjoy seeing projects like this.

jtk said:

I enjoy seeing projects like this.

Click to expand...

Me too. Thanks for two things: bringing this artist to our attention, and reminding me about photo-eye... I completely forgot about them.

She had a terrific set of botanicals in _LensWork_ some years ago, and her _Ancient Trees_ book is really good. If I understand correctly, she works from MF film through enlarged digital negatives to Pt/Pd; seems like an interesting process.

-NT

https://bethmoon.com/process/

ntenny said:

She had a terrific set of botanicals in _LensWork_ some years ago, and her _Ancient Trees_ book is really good. If I understand correctly, she works from MF film through enlarged digital negatives to Pt/Pd; seems like an interesting process.

-NT

Click to expand...

Thanks for suggesting the book!

"With platinum printing, noted for its beautiful luminosity and wide tonal scale, the absence of a binder layer allows very fine crystals of platinum to be embedded into the paper giving it a 3-dimensional appearance. Unrivaled by any other printing process, platinum, like gold, is a stable metal. A print can last for thousands of years. This process gives tones that range from cool blacks, neutral grays, to rich sepia browns. Paper choice is key. I use Arches Platine, a 100% cotton, watercolor paper with natural deckle edges, that has been made by the same mill in France since 1492. Contact printing means you need a negative the size of the image. Printing methods from the 19th century teamed with technology from the 21st make the best of both worlds. Once a negative is scanned into a computer it can then be enlarged and output as a high resolution negative printed on transparency material. The paper is first humidified in a humidifying chamber. This is a covered box with a suspended plastic grate that the paper lies on, above a bath of water. A sensitized solution of platinum and palladium metals are then hand brushed onto the humidified paper and left to dry in a light free box. It is then put into a vacuum frame which keeps the paper and negative tightly pressed together and exposed under a UV light source. Developer is then poured over the paper as the image appears. The print then goes through 3 successive clearing baths and a final archival clearing wash. It is then left on a glass plate to dry."