Re: Was Re: Bromoil Video, now oil printing

[Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>]

On Aug 9, 2007, at 8:08 AM, Dave Soemarko wrote:

> Karl Koenig's gumoil is different. He basically made exposure on  
> gum-coated
> paper like we do gum bichromate, then coat the paper with  
> printmaking ink
> (or oil painting paint, I forgot), then wait for it to dry a little  
> bit, and
> repeatedly wipe the print with cloth (I forgot whether the print  
> was damped
> first). The idea is that the ink would adhere to the hardened part  
> stronger
> and not adhere so well to the unexposed part (because gum naturally  
> absorbs
> water, and water repels oil), so the unexposed area got wiped off.
Dave,  I'm not sure this is quite right.   I did two gumoil prints, a  
long time ago, just to see what it was about, but oil products give  
me a headache, so I never pursued this further.  But the way I  
remember it working, the gum was exposed with a positive rather than  
a negative, developed and carefully dried, and then when the oil  
paint was applied, the oil adhered where there was no exposure, where  
there was plain paper, and didn't adhere where there was hardened  
gum, which the oil wouldn't stick to.

P.S.  I just remembered that I do own a copy of Karl's book, so I dug  
it out and it looks as if I'm remembering it right.

kt