Small Ziatype News

I ended up putting six of the eight smaller (8x10 paper, 5x7 image) ziatypes I made in my eBay store. I'll list the other two for auction tomorrow.

My traditional platinum kit is supposed to arrive in a couple of days so I'll probably knock off making any other kind of handmade print while I work on those. From a photographer's perspective there are pros and cons to either technique - the main difference being Ziatype's a print out process (the image forms during exposure) and traditional platinum's a develop out process (the image forms during development). But there are actually a couple of variations of each type, and in fact there's debate about how much you really have to change before calling it a whole new process.

It's tempting to just call them all "platinum/palladium" prints and be done with it, since in the end that's all that matters - some ratio of metallic platinum and palladium is deposited on the paper - actually "in" the paper is more accurate because it binds up with the individual cotton fibers which is why it's so archival. It's not like a silver gelatin print where the silver is "floating" on top of the paper in a gelatin layer that can come off.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the Ziatype "flavor" of platinum print but it makes sense to try a couple of different kinds and decide. I know photographers who love either process for different reasons so I'm leaving myself open to the possibility that I'll love the other process even more.