Well after going through six months of construction, testing, improvements and a lot of costly raw materials I have finally got my platinum printing studio up to a standard I'm (fairly) happy with. Suffice to say, if I'd know how much work was involved in doing it I may have never started.

To give a little recap. I have studio space at Ebor Studios in Littleborough, Lancashire. A lovely little creative hub which I am fortunate to share with a great bunch of fine artists and designers.

In order to produce platinum prints or platinotypes you do not need a darkroom as you do in traditional silver printing but you do need a great deal of related (and costly) equipment.

Firstly I decided to build my own sink.

Then I had to construct a ultra violet exposure unit - with a fully working vacuum driven contact frame (I'm very proud of this!)

I also had to build a print washer and stock up on all manner of other bits and pieces such as: pipettes, cutting mats, timers, brushes, specialist paper, distilled water, and not to forget the key (but expensive) chemicals imported from America.

After all that was done I had to then start to master the delicate art of the platinum print. That is a story in itself, which I shan't bore you with right now, just suffice the say it's a path with plenty of pitfalls. But all's well that ends well, I now have a fully working platinum printing studio, I know far more than I did when I started it and am greatly looking forward to what I can do with the medium and where it may take me.