U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Powdered pigments?

Re: Powdered pigments?



Hi Jacek, I'm glad to see that you're getting started.

It's interesting that gum has become to seem so counterintuitive that one would start out assuming that what seems like the logical way to proceed must not be the way to go.... I don't know any reason why you shouldn't do exactly as you propose.

I'm glad Dick answered; I wouldn't have thought there would be enough gum arabic in the pan colors for gum printing and you'd need to add more gum. But there's another example of the fallacy of assuming anything about gum printing.

But I'm curious; why would you choose the pan colors instead of the tubes, or powdered pigment? Seems like more work than either; are pan colors cheaper than tubes or powdered pigment? One thing to note is that most gum printers (Dick's dime-store example to the contrary) recommend using artist grade colors, whichever form you buy them in. Student grade paints sometimes introduce problems because of added fillers and binders, and it's just as well to avoid unneccessary variables from the beginning.


Katharine



On Apr 12, 2007, at 2:14 AM, Jacek wrote:

Hi all,

I'm about to undertake Gum printing. I was wondering if it were possible to use the Pan blocks that are sold by Windsor and Newton instead of using their 15ml tubes? What do I need to do to the pan block to make it a powdered pigment and use it for gum printing? I presume just grinding the block into powder and mixing part of it with the gum, then mixing it with the dichromate is NOT the way to go?
Well any info would be gladly appreciated :)
Thanks
Jacek Gonsalves
http://www.jagnight.com
Western Australia