Palladium vs Ziatype

There is gathering material for the Ziatype, developed in the Bostick & Sullivan lab. I'm not going to get into details of that process as it is a sort of replacement for a palladium print, with the Ziatype kit cost being about 30% more than a palladium kit of the same size; 100ml, which would be approximately 50 prints at the 2ml per 8x10 print size ration. One advantage to this method is the ability for a dMax black to show up without the palladium process developing step. One downside is the need for humidity control during printing.

Hand coated photographic printmaking is a very personal choice, usually based upon the emotional connection to a printing process by the photographer. For me, that includes the palladium and gum processes. As I have also brought up more than once, there is what was known as the poor man's platinum. That is, printing an image in silver then toning in platinum. The platinum salts replace the silver salts during toning and the print thereby becomes a true platinum print. Today, as a century ago, printing in platinum would be very expensive, costing about $18-$20 for an 8x10 print. Palladium is a bit more cost effective, coming in around $12-$14 a print. Going the way of the poor man's platinum, or palladium, brings the cost of ending up with a palladium print down to about $2.75, including the silver and palladium toner.

Once the final parts to the new printer have arrived and the printer ready for printing, testing will begin on this very method. For now, I will be continuing the printing process using double coated silver prints, toned in palladium. I also want to do some toning using gold chloride. I have six toning formulas, one of then using sodium thiocyanate, which has the capacity to replace the silver salts with the gold toner, not just coating the silver particles with gold. That would add longevity to the print life.

I will likely test out the Ziatype printing method, being it is a close cousin to the palladium print. But that will be some time down the printing road, after I am producing palladium prints consistently. Then, testing can make sense. Any photographer who has printed a Ziatype is welcome to show their print(s) on this blog, with a forum for how and why you work with that process. Who knows, it could happen...