5 FUTURE DIRECTIONS

A database of chemicals used in platinum and palladium printing and intensification has been created. Combined with EDX analysis, which elucidates the present elemental composition of a print and so gives clues as to its chemical status, the database can help conservators reconstruct the zero-point of a platinum or palladium print—that is, the chemistry and technique used to create it.

Further literature review could fill out the database. More important, only with further experimentation with EDX can it be known whether the methodology of reconstructing the zero-point is valid and how it can be refined. Likewise, the methodology can be tested in conjunction with either nondestructive (XRF) or more destructive (decomposition followed by ICP or AAS analysis) techniques.

The proposed national conservation resource, including results of literature review as well as data from spectroscopic and chemical analysis of prints, would greatly accelerate the ability to research these questions (Bunnell 1993).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank Toby Jurovics for his timely assistance.