U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Seeking Information on 2 problems with Gum process

Re: Seeking Information on 2 problems with Gum process



Chris --
Thanks so much for the reply -- I didn't mean I WOULDN'T get answers, just that I was warned this wasn't a place for basic newbie questions.

But thanks for the iron info -- I had been ironing the sheet the first time for one pass gum and for cyanotypes, but didn't dare muck after it was exposed, washed and dried.

Interestingly, the yellow I used was quite lovely and rich and non-staining -- it was Holbein's Yellow Ochre Watercolor.

And, I only learned about your book AFTER I got on this list -- and since I'm a nut about books, it's next on my list. One can never, ever have too many books.

When I'm not actually reading this list or making prints, I'm looking up things on the net and/or reading what I already have. And, since I posted my question, I stumbled across Sam Wang's article about starting with a Cyanotype -- for the first pass and, obviously, for blue. So that's what I'm doing today.

And, I must say, it's been 40 some years since something so grabbed me by the throat and soul as this world has.

Cheers,
and thanks again!
Clair

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VT2000 Technical Services: http://www.vt2000.com
802.309.3344


Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
Hi Clair,
I disagree-I was a newbie in 1999 and got LOTS of answers to my questions, and continually. The only problem is sometimes there were major disagreements over them :)

For any process where you wish to coat and expose the same piece of paper multiple times, what do people do with the severely uneven paper between exposures?
I have been using the iron continually with great results, on "cotton" setting. Discovered this just this semester, when having to do a project of 40 gum prints quickly and dealing with immense curl. I don't have my own dry mount press at home :( It is amazing how hardy the gum layer is once it is dry.

What do people use for the best
non-staining results? (
I have an arsenal of pigments I use, and in my Alt Proc Condensed book I list several pages. I am not shamelessly plugging my book, I am just saying that the answer to this question is really about 3 or 4 pages. First of all, with good sizing, no color stains. Otherwise all bets are off. Second of all, you have to worry about pigment archivalness. Third, you can take into account transparency depending on when the pigment goes on the paper. For instance, cad red or cad yellow are fine for a first coat on the paper where nothing is below. But sometimes a color that is not so transparent and used on top of other colors can deaden the ones below a bit.

I just counted and there are 41 colors on my table.

A simple answer to your question is choose a brand--Winsor, Maimeri, Daniel Smith, M. Graham, and choose the primary yellow, red, and blue in each brand. I think they are even called that in Winsor as well as Maimeri. The blue is usually phthalocyanine, the red is usually a magenta like a quinacridone rose PV19R, the yellow is the pain in the butt because it is either green biased on orange biased and that depends on which way you want to lean but an azo yellow works ok enough. For black, lamp or carbon are fine.

If you go with M. Graham buying the 4 colors will set you back about $20-30 is all.
Chris