Newbie Gum fun Continued
Hi all, Well I finally took the plunge on the weekend and did my first ever print in gum. The results were...well something actually came up and I can see I have a long way to go! :) I used W&N lamp black tube, found I couldn't weigh it on my scale when I squeezed 2 pea sizes out, nothing registered on the scale! :) The paper itself got stained perhaps of too much pigment or because I didn't add enough gelatin to the paper? My paper seemed to have curled and the negative seems to not have sat comfortably on it, even with a heavy glass on. I might have to put something heavier or try keeping the paper flat when drying with all the preshrinking and gelatin. Perhaps I can find plans on the net to build a Contact Frame? The Arches paper Smooth 300gsm, I had an issue with dotted speckles, I found that the water preshrinking I used wasnt that hot. The water couldnt penetrate the whole paper, therefore getting speckles in the paper. Also the fact I was preshrinking for only 10 mins. I used this paper to develop a print, and the part where you can see the dotted speckles, has been stained with the lamp black pigment, the rest seemed unstained. I ended up using boiling water to preshrinking another batch of the same Arches paper, and I got no more speckles! Though I might have damaged the actual manufacturers hardening of the paper? Also it really gave off fumes with the boiling hot water, I had to take it outside. I tried a batch, Katharine suggestion of below 140F(60C), unfortunately it still has the dotty speckles. I changed the water at least 4 times, their still there! :( Reading the Altlist I see some people just use lukewarm water to preshrinking? Also what paper do you use and how do you preshrinking it? With boiling hot water, lukewarm water etc? I also tried Acquarello Fabriano cold press with no preshrinking, a brushed on gelatin on one side. Developed the paper and got staining. Perhaps another gelatin coat would have fixed it or less pigment? I'm not using any hardners in my gelatin and perhaps that could also account for the staining. Is a RED safelight, ones used in the darkroom safe to use when coating gum? What do you use? More to come... Thanks Jacek
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