Re: gum thickness and French check
Thank you, Jean! So that means a true 60% gum solution and not a 37.5%! Wow. Ha, ha, over the weekend I was piddling around in a bunch of different gum experiments while printing and I finally observed this one thing I had read about. In the German books I have had translated for me, there was a term "flagging" which for the life of me I never knew what it was. I even asked my original gum teacher (who is Austrian) what it is and he explained it to me but I had never observed it. This weekend I accidentally forgot to add the water part of the equation to my gum/pigment/di mix (I don't use am di at 30%, but cut it with an equal amount of water so it comes out to a 15% am di). When the gum prints went into the water for development I finally observed "flagging". The layer, instead of flaking off as I usually see happen, came off in a chunk here and there, and at the edge of the chunk there were these little tears of wavy veils that waved like little flags! It was worth ruining three large gum prints to observe this--and, technically I didn't waste anything but time because I just brushed the whole layer off. Speaking of ruining prints, I did so to 8 large prints over the last week for various reasons. I sized unshrunk Rives BFK and FAEW and printed on it, thinking it would be dimensionally stable as I have read. NOT. Both papers shrink 1/16 inch horizontally and vertically so I will NEVER again skip the shrinking step. Those were ruined. Maybe with small prints this is fine, or in a humid climate, but 16x20 in MT, even with sponging the back of the prints with water, not for this babe. Besides, the shrinking step with a bunch of baby hangers and a shower pole is not a biggie. Second, I got this hairbrained idea to try out a yellow ink only negative--yellow being oddly enough a very dense pigment to UV light. Well guess what--the second coat, have you ever tried to see registration with a yellow negative on top of a blue layer? Don't try it. 4 more large prints in the trash along with 3 large pieces of Pictorico. Impossible. Third, I decided to coat a couple sheets of paper with a layer while my negative was printing out, thinking I would be accurate with the size of the layer area. When I went to print, my coated area was not long enough. Tried to resurrect it with another layer. In the trash. Oh well. Chris Christina Z. Anderson Assistant Professor Photo Option Coordinator Montana State University Visual Communications Building Room 220 Box 173350 Bozeman Montana 59718 406.994.6219 CZAphotography.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean Daubas" <jean.daubas@wanadoo.fr> To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca> Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 8:10 AM Subject: Re: gum thickness and French check Hi Christina !
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