Re: Attn. Chris + All. Gum, Gelatine + Direct Carbon.
John, Yes, I do pass along all to my students. For instance, in my library project, when I came across the Metzner book and other Fresson prints by Turbeville, etc., I marked the book in my spreadsheet to scan for a Fresson powerpoint. I came across an '80's book that I was going to ditch and found out it had dye transfer prints in it, which, again, I will scan. And one cannot forget Outerbridge's tricolor carbon (or is it carbro?) work--stupendous. So alt can be found in all kinds of places that one doesn't expect. I do find that there is overwhelming info out there on daguerreotype, but gum? Hardly. I also continually share stuff from the alt list with them. It is an absolute HOOT when they do their presentations and after I tell them, "Yes, I know this person..." which has happened time and time again. BTW, my math was wrong last night--I have eliminated 2200 books out of 3700 :) not 1200...it is a hard task to do because every book has its good points. Some are old, some outdated, some easy to eliminate. I think that Christopher James' book is probably the "bible" of alt in general--he is currently revising it now to be even more extensive and I excitedly await the new version. And to answer the question of why do we do that? Share? Alt is a small community, and perhaps we share because it creates more community. Research is like a treasure hunt for me--like a garage sale where you get some incredible finds for nothing (except your time). I get so excited about research. But if I were to hold it all into my brain, of what use would that be? It's constipating. Plus, writing it all out is a way to organize the brain and get it in a neat little box so you don't have to glut your own brain hard drive space with the information. Now, as far as gelatin and gum, Art was so kind a few years back as to give me a copy of his patent. I run across articles on Fresson every now and again when researching gum, but of course, the articles are all sort of like "Well, the Fresson paper MAY contain this..." The reason I am intrigued with the gelatin is that Echague said it provided a much more stable layer to use sawdust development with. But if I remember (Art can chime in here?) gum and gelatin do not mix well. But my gum printing formula is essentially a 1:1 mix (tho I use stock pigment mixes and use ammonium dichromate cut in half to a 15% dilution) so I don't have a clue how much gelatin I would mix in or how I would do it. BTW I think the allure of Metzner's imagery is as much her expertise in sensual, languishing fashion imagery as it is the process. I think one reason I wasn't as impressed with her landscapes is that, for instance, graininess in an iceberg doesn't do that particular subject justice. I want my icebergs--icey. In person these images might be really stupendous, though. Chris PS to answer another post, my question to Nadeau would be why buy the process from Echague and not Fresson? Chris, I am sure, and I hope, though, that you will be passing on to your students, who may not have direct access to this list, some of what is discussed here particularly re. the techniques of Fresson + Direct Carbon etc., when you can get time away from your bibliography work which seems very important to you, currently.
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