RE: A few gum things

[john@johnbrewerphotography.com]

Hi Judy

My first ever gum print, (1996?), was made using Gloy gum, (not to be
confused with Gloy paste), a one coat gum and on unsized cheap paper -
http://www.johnbrewerphotography.com/portfolio/People/23.html, how's that
for luck! I think that Gloy gum now is a different recipe to the original
stuff I used, but it got me hooked on gum printing. The gloy gum method was
from 'Spirit of Salts' by Webb and Reed, (not the best book in the world),
and was partly serialised in Amateur Photographer which was where I
initially read it. 'Spirit of Salts' was published under the title of
'Alternative Photographic Process' in the US.  

John.


-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Seigel [mailto:jseigel@panix.com] 
Sent: 08 April 2008 05:29
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Re: A few gum things

On Mon, 7 Apr 2008, Diana Bloomfield wrote:
>
> I then went to my local art store, and bought some gesso.  The man who
owns 
> the store (who is an artist) asked me what I was doing. I guess I looked 
> confused.  When I told him, he gave me a bottle of Gamblin PVA, and told
me I 
> should try that.  He said he'd give it to me if I promised to come back
and 
> tell him how it worked, compared to the gesso.  The PVA was pretty dilute
to 
> begin with, and I didn't know if I should dilute it more-- but I tried it 
> (diluted), and it actually worked very well.  I think I tried a second
layer, 
> and it didn't work so well, so I'm thinking I shouldn't have diluted the 
> initial coating, or perhaps one has to coat between layers when using PVA?

> I'm not sure, but  I'm going to go back and try it again.  If anybody has 
> used it and knows, I'd love to know more about how I should be using it 
> (diluted or not).   I did like it very much.  I also tried the gesso, but
I 
> think I didn't dilute that enough.  The print looked great for about 30 
> seconds, and then the whole thing washed off.  I want to go back and try
that 
> again.  I much preferred the PVA, though-- both the consistency and the
ease 
> of using it-- goes on very smoothly.
>

Old timers on the list may remember the days when Terry King extolled the 
virtues of Gloy Gum as medium for gum printing (tho not as I recall as a 
size). Gloy (marketed as a kind of library paste) was popular generally 
with English gummists.  According to Mike Ware, Gloy is PVA with some 
added ingredients (like maybe  emulsifiers or odorizers). I hve some here 
but can't get the cap off to smell it..

I tried it as medium (instead of gum arabic) and hated it -- could never 
get it to do a continuous tone...  Menwhile, AFAIK if it's used as a size 
it would still need hardening because it's water soluble. (Which could be 
why your 2nd coat didn't work so well, Diana !)

J.




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