Two Stage Clearing for Pt/Pd?

[Neil Poulsen]

In silver printing, I use two different fixing baths. However, after the first fix, I soak in HCA, wash the print for a few minutes or so and let it dry.

Then from among all the prints, I select the keepers and do the second fix, the remaining archival proceedures, including HCA, and washing. The non-keepers are discarded. This saves a lot of time, because not all the prints are going through all the processes.

I picked this up from Ansel Adams book, The Print.

Does something like this sound reasonable for pt/pd? If so, what would appear to be a workable methodology? Has anyone tried this? If so, what's your methodology? Maybe it's already common practice?

 

[wilsonneal]

I was told, and I've read (Matthias for sure, and maybe in Arentz) that a print that was partially cleared, washed and dried will be harder to clear (and sometimes won't totally clear). The last thing I need is to make clearing harder so I never tried what you're suggesting.
Neal

 

[Joe Lipka]

I single clear only for step wedges or test strips. Otherwise, everything I print goes through two clearing baths.
The only instance where your suggested procedure might save you time is if you chose to do a single fix for the last print. All that would save you is the time of the second fix for the last print.
As for economy in fixing baths, consider this. In relation to the cost of paper, platinum/palladium salts, the clearing bath is by far the least expensive of your supplies. Skimping there is no real savings.

 

[sanking]

I single clear only for step wedges or test strips. Otherwise, everything I print goes through two clearing baths.
The only instance where your suggested procedure might save you time is if you chose to do a single fix for the last print. All that would save you is the time of the second fix for the last print.
As for economy in fixing baths, consider this. In relation to the cost of paper, platinum/palladium salts, the clearing bath is by far the least expensive of your supplies. Skimping there is no real savings.

Everything I clear, both kallitype and Pt./Pd. goes through three clearing baths, in First, Second and Third positions. The last one, in Third position, is always the freshest, and the one in First is always the most used. When you discard the First solution, rotate the one in Second position to First, Third position to Second, and use newly mixed solution on Third base. I do this with one-tray processing, but the concept is the same.

Compared to the cost of other chemicals used in Pt./Pd. the clearing bath is dirt cheap so it makes no sense trying to save money or time here, especially since stain left in the print represents a real danger to long term stability.

Many people believe that pt/pd prints are very stable, and they are if correctly processes. But anyone who has examined collections of prints from the past will tell you that a very large percentage of pt./pd. prints show significant degradation from various causes, the most important of which is stain left in the print. And if you were to store prints with stain with those thorougly cleared, the stain from the bad one might (probably would) leach into the good one over time. So bottom line for me is this, clear all your prints thorougly, and give them a good wash after clearing.

Sandy King

 

[CraigK]

I agree completely with Sandy. I noticed yellow/orange stains on some platinum prints by Irving Penn at a gallery in Toronto a few years ago. I assume they are from improper clearing. Pity.

Different papers of course clear more easily than others and some developers I find tend to make the job easier for the clearing bath (I use pot ox).

One clearing agent I have found very effective, especially for the pt/pd prints I make on fixed-out baryta paper is Ilford's Wash Aid. Mixed 1:10, I find it will clear prints about twice as fast as any other clearing bath I have used. Recently however, Ilford has "improved" the formula by apparently removing the EDTA from it! I have tried the new version, and it works, but not as well as the older formula.

 

[Neil Poulsen]

Thanks everyone. It a was thought, but it doesn't sound like it makes sense.