U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: gum question

Re: gum question



Hi Joe,

That's a good point.  This was on unsized Fabriano, but I'll try it on sized and let you know.

Diana
On Jun 7, 2008, at 2:39 PM, Joseph Smigiel wrote:

Diana,

Before any conclusions are drawn, why don't you try some of the diluted mix on (a different sheet of) sized Fabriano?  Is it the distilled water or the sizing making the difference?

Joe 
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On Jun 7, 2008, at 1:20 PM, Diana Bloomfield wrote:

I have a question for all you inveterate gum printers out there.  I'm still toiling away here at tri-color gum, and I had a mix that just seemed too dark and too thick, so I diluted it with distilled water-- probably too much as it ended up very watery-- but I spread it out with a roller, and so it  was very even-- but also pretty pale.  I printed it, though, and the results were amazing.  I was using a piece of Fabriano that I had not sized-- and I couldn't believe it.  The result was far superior to some layers I've gotten on a sized piece of Fabriano.

So was this just dumb luck, or is adding distilled water a common practice?  I only did one coat so far, and I like it so much, I'm gonna dry this and then size it for subsequent coats, but I could end this print now with this one coat, and I'd be satisfied.  It has detail (well, as detailed as an image from a toy camera negative can be), not grainy, very smooth, and no staining.  I used Payne's Grey.  Anyway, so my question-- is there some downside to adding distilled water like this on a regular basis, other than the obvious (somewhat paler layer than it would be ordinarily, I guess)-- or do people do this all the time and just not talk about it?

I guess I should have paid attention to all those gum posts in the past.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Diana