RE: Gum on Masa
Keith, Wow!! What a beautiful body of work. The prints are beutiful as are the images. I'm am floored by your prolificacy. I am curious when you started this group of prints?? Kerik www.kerik.com Original Message: ----------------- From: Keith Gerling keith.gerling@gmail.com Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:30:02 -0600 To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Subject: Gum on Masa I've been making gum photos on Masa paper.. Here is a link to some current work featuring dancers: http://www.gumphoto.com/masa/index.htm Yes, too many - I'm still editing. As is usually the case with on-line gums, only a resemblance seems to exist between the displayed image and the actual print. Here is a close-up to demonstrate detail:: http://www.gumphoto.com/masa/detail2.jpg As I have only used alternative substrates for the last 5 years (mostly aluminum and gessoed tar paper) it took me awhile to get the hang of printing on paper, especially a paper as thin as Masa, I had to re-learn the entire gumprinting process and to make the learning curve especially tricky I also am using inkjet negatives for the first time in nearly nine years. The Masa I purchase comes in sheets of 21x31, large enough for a decent sized print and cut in half provides almost the same perspective, so there is little waste (which isn't an issue anyway because it is so cheap). These are all gum over cyanotype and are 12x18 inches on half sheets. They were printed with baby-oiled paper negatives. Some observations: Masa is very thin, so on the positive side, it is 1) inexpensive, 2) very easy to register multiple layers, 3) very fast to dry. On the negative side, it is very flimsy and thus difficult to handle when wet. Also, and this is the biggest disadvantage I can see when compared to other papers, it gets very disagreeable when one attempts more than three layers of gum. I can do it, but it is certainly a challenge I'm not a huge fan of using cyanotype as my blue layer, but my usually practice of adding layer upon layer to build up density is not an option. However, it takes a cyano layer very nicely, so rich blacks can be had fairly easily. I'm working now with full sized sheets and the results are very promising. The biggest problem is keeping a larger oiled negative registered while trying to place it under a piece of glass with a sheet of mylar between the negative and the print. Much easier with a smaller print where I can use a contact printing frame. Keith -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web LIVE – Free email based on Microsoft® Exchange technology - http://link.mail2web.com/LIVE
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