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Platinum Toning - Van Dyke prints

Discussion in 'Alternative Processes' started by scootermm, Jul 16, 2005.

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  1. Jul 16, 2005 #1
    scootermm

    scootermm Subscriber

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    I recently (with some of my last remaining $$s for the month :smile: ) purchased a platinum toning kit for POP paper.

    I just toned my first 7x17 Van Dyke print.

    Gorgeous. What an astounding result to the semi familiar Van Dyke process. Its not in the least bit steering me away from Van dyke printing. Quite the contrary. what a wonderful way to create a wonderous result to an already wonderous printing process. I am excited to play with it more.

    prints are washing right now. Made a straight van dyke and a Pt toned one to compare the final results.

    just thought Id share for anyone interested.

    The formula I used in the toning bath.
    10grams Citric Acid
    10 drops of 3% Pt
    to 1000ml (1litre) of distilled water.
    I toned for approximately 1min.

    then fixed and washed.
     
  2. Jul 16, 2005 #2
    Stan. L-B

    Stan. L-B Member

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    Congratulations. During your playing around, try a longer exposure, as to me your exposure of 1min. is very short, my average was around 3mins. But, it could be that your make-up is different. Stan.
     
  3. Jul 16, 2005 #3
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    scootermm

    scootermm Subscriber

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    Ill make a note of trying that Stan. I want to try longer both exposure for sure.
     
  4. Jul 18, 2005 #4
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    scootermm

    scootermm Subscriber

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    I made a few more prints today to do some testing.

    Here is the straight Van Dyke Print of the negative
    here

    and here is the platinum toned Van Dyke.
    here

    I managed to have sunlight that was pretty consistant today. not many clouds when I made these two. used two contact printing frames and took them outside at the same time.
    I washed the prints and then toned the one for 3mins and then put them through the sodium thio for 2 mins and then washed for about 30+mins.

    Im finding out that when I tone the image in platinum that you have to go against some of the standard procedures for Van Dyke printing. There doesnt seem to be as much dry down as usual. So the whole, remove from sunlight when the highlights just start to show miniscule detail. Im finding I should get the print exposure to about where I want it when it prints out and then the toning in pt seems to just solidify this.
    anyone had any experience with this? offer suggestions.
     
  5. Jul 18, 2005 #5
    Digidurst

    Digidurst Subscriber

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    I really like the results you are getting with the platinum toned Van Dyke. Really beautiful!

    I took a look thru your site as well; Good work! Good job on the site too - it's very clean and your images are showcased very well. Kudos to you!

    p.s. I'm a born & bred Texan but I haven't made it back in about 9 or so years - I live out east now (South Carolina). Looking at your work sure made me miss the home state!
     
  6. Jul 19, 2005 #6
    photomc

    photomc Member

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    Thanks for sharing, Matt. These are really nice and I like the way the plt. tone looks...

    Good Job.
     
  7. Jul 20, 2005 #7
    sanking

    sanking Member

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    Very nice work.

    One thing to keep in mind is that in addition to changing the color of the print, toning with platinum actually replaces silver metal, which can react with residual salts in the print, with platinum, so that the resulting print is much more permanent. However, toning for only one minute with this formula will not give full replacement. Based on some previous testing I estimate that a one minute toning with this formula will only replace about 80% of the silver with platinum. For replacement over about 98% you will need to tone for about 10-15 minutes. You can reduce toning time for the same replacment value by using a stronger dilution of platinum, but you may find it more cost effective to simply increase time.

    Another issue with vandyke is that there is no contrat control. Not an issue if you are working with digital negatives but quite a issue when using in-camera negatives that vary a lot in contrast. At some point you may want to consider kallitype based on feric oxalate because, although it is slightly more complicated than VDB, the resulting prints are usually richer in the shadows (more Dmax) and you have the same range of contrast control that is available with Pt./Pd. printing.

    Sandy