Re: New Blog on the block
Don, that is an interesting blog & very informative on many points, but it reminds me of something my Swiss pediatrician said more years ago than I care to reveal. It was the custom of Swiss mothers to put the baby on the potty, and the potty on the floor and against a table leg, then tie a diaper around baby's waist plus the table leg after every feeding, starting at about 3 weeks. That is, the diaper acted as harness to fasten baby to table leg, hence sitting up on the potty. Eventually of course baby peed in the potty, and at some point or other (maybe when it could say, "Mutti, untie me") was considered "trained." As the pediatrician pointed out, the baby wasn't trained: the mother was trained. And that's what came to mind when I read the fellow's comment about his Rives BFK that, "once it is treated it is dimensionally stable." He then describes an exacting protocol, with every aspect of handling, from initial soak to ambient humidity, drying, coating and timing precisely controlled and the same. With those factors rendered identical after an initial soak, any paper, including probably newsprint will be "dimensionally stable." Which is to say, the photographer is trained. (My own tests show that UNLESS treatment is thus identical, NO paper is "dimensionally stable.") Judy On Mon, 20 Aug 2007, Don Bryant wrote: Hello Listers, There is an interesting blog that maybe of interest to some of you. It's main theme is whole plate cameras but today's posting discusses palladium printing using Rives BFK. Very informative. Here is the URL: http://209.35.116.200/ Don Bryant -----Original Message----- From: Loris Medici [mailto:mail@loris.medici.name] Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 3:29 AM To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Subject: RE: Freeform gum (Re: Gum printers in UK (Re: Scott McMahon gum workshop, September I see... Makes sense. Nevertheless, I tend to include the method "separation by using the same negative - with different colors - for multiple printings" into the classification of "freeform" -> especially when one doesn't use stock gum/pigment solutions (mix / add pigment by eye, instead). Additionally, one can change the order of colors + the colors + printing times and/or dichromate amounts to get very different results with the same negative... To me, only prints made [using strict separations (either duotone or RGB / CMYK) + using strict gum/pigment solutions + using automatic development] don't quality as freeform -> these are simply reproducing the printing press' actions by hand - with the freedom of choosing colors... (Manipulating the image in development such as using a brush, sponge, water jets / turkey baster ect... would allow the print to qualify as "freefrom".) Of couse, this is a highly subjective view open to discussion... Regards, Loris. -----Original Message----- From: Katharine Thayer [mailto:kthayer@pacifier.com] Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 9:58 AM To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Subject: Re: Freeform gum (Re: Gum printers in UK (Re: Scott McMahon gum workshop, September Actually, when I mused that maybe this isn't a freeform gum, maybe it's done with "a separation negative of some sort," I wasn't thinking just of tricolor separations but of anything that separated the tones into a separate negative, in addition to a possible color separation. But certainly c would work too. The question was, if it's a freeform gum, how was the color separated? None of the answers below assumes a freeform gum, but all are certainly possible ways of achieving it with "a separation negative of some sort;" even "c" uses the negative to separate the colors rather than separating the colors in application or development. (When tentatively defining freeform gum, I was only thinking of separating the colors by selective application; I hadn't thought of separating the colors in development as Damiano did; that's very well done). kt On Aug 19, 2007, at 10:37 PM, Loris Medici wrote:Not that I think I have a better idea but will list some solutions that look probable to me: a) Making duotone (or tritone, or quadtone) separations. My color theory / duotone knowledge is limited, so I can't say if one could design duotones profiles giving results similar to the image in question... b) As Katharine says -> making tri-color separations... (Coloring donein image editing program...) c) Using a fairly high contrast negative and printing the highlights /midtones and shadows in different colors. Shadows could have been printed using a fairly opaque color or a color that gives green when printed over earth colors - if possible... (Again, I don't know if there are such opaque greens - or if there's a color which will give green when printed over earth colors... A transparent blue?) I would first try (c) then (b) and (a)... Regards, Loris. -----Original Message----- From: Katharine Thayer [mailto:kthayer@pacifier.com] Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 10:40 PM To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Subject: Freeform gum (Re: Gum printers in UK (Re: Scott McMahon gum workshop, September .. Hence David's question about how one would get such a nice separation of the green, in the absence of the use of color separations. One possibility is that maybe that image isn't a freeform gum but is done with a separation negative of some sort. Otherwise, I don't know how it could be done. Hope that's helpful, and as I said, I hope if someone has a better idea, they'll say so. Katharine
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