Re: The Fresson/Arvel Process
Marek, thanks, that's very interesting; I'll look forward to seeing
more examples in future.
kt
On Nov 29, 2007, at 7:48 AM, Marek Matusz wrote:
Katharine,
I looked back and the Lake was the only example in the last
portfolio. I had some more for this round, but it has not gotten
off the ground yet. The scans in the prtfolio are a bit flat and
dull looking. Because of the high pigment concentration the gum
layer is matt and dark, not a typical gloss look associated with gum.
Marek
> Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:59:13 -0800
> From: kthayer@pacifier.com
> Subject: Re: The Fresson/Arvel Process
> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>
>
> On Nov 27, 2007, at 1:52 PM, Marek Matusz wrote:
>
> > Very interesting thread I was in the Big Bend NP hiking and taking
> > pictures, happy without a computer or cel phone for a few days. I
> > only got to read some of the emails now.
> > Here is my comment from the practical standpoint of a gum printer.
> > My one coat gum prints have eveloved to a practice that gives
> > maximum darks and long (relative) tonal range of the final print
> > (not to be confused with long negative density range). Some of my
> > prints were included in the travelling portfolio last time around.
>
> Hi Marek; I was curious to see examples of this. The latest
> traveling portfolio that I see online is 2006; that one as far as I
> can tell includes one print treated this way: Louisiana Lake. Are
> there others in that portfolio, or/and is there another later
> portfolio that has more examples?
>
> In some simple tests of gum hardening, I found that while boiling
> water or dilute acid didn't dissolve exposed (crosslinked)
> dichromated gum, a drop of standard strength household bleach
> dissolved it instantly. I've speculated from that observation that
> the bleach undoes the crosslinking somehow, although I don't know
> that for sure. I can see how overexposure and diluting the bleach
> would be useful to ensure dissolving some of the hardened gum
without
> dissolving it all, and I can see how it would take some finesse to
> dissolve enough of the shadows in heavily overexposed gum to open
> them up without dissolving the highlights. It's an interesting idea
> and looks like you've learned to use it with skill.
> katharine
>
>
>
> > Here is a description of my pratice.
> > Coat the paper with gelatine / harden it.
> > FOr the gum layer I prefer highly pigmented carbon black.
> > Use longer exposure (3 to 5 times normal exposures). I really have
> > not tried to push it even further.
> > Soak in water to remove dichromate.
> > Develop in a weak chlorox solution. My dilution is about 20 cc/
> > liter of water. Could be as little as 10cc if I want slow
action or
> > as much as 40 to 50. Once the print starts bleeding the pigment I
> > place it in water and watch for a few minutes following the
> > development. If the development is slow, dip back in chlorox for a
> > few minutes The reason for moving it back and forth is that the
> > action of chlorox continues for a few minutes and it is easy to
> > just wash the gum layer completely.
> > Actually I use this method a lot for my tricolor gum prints as
well.
Get the power of Windows + Web with the new Windows Live. Power up!
|