Re: gum question

[sam wang <stwang@clemson.edu>]

Diana,

Good to know someone is printing away in this heat! And good to hear  
about such success with gum.

For one coat gum I've always had very smooth results. The roller  
obviously helped that even more. I doubt that the use of distilled  
water had anything to do with it except to make the mix just the right  
consistency coupled with the roller and humidity and the alignment of  
stars. As has been said on this list many times there are just too  
many variable to definitively say about gum. At least that's my  
experience.

Sounds like the Payne's Grey may have a little to contribute to the  
smoothness too: a light layer of gum can be so beautiful in that it  
hints and not beat the image to death. I made some portraits using  
just a light colored clay found around here and it worked great.

If indeed it's the distilled water that made the difference, your  
water must be the problem - does it taste funny too? Quoting Mark:  
hehehe.

Do let us know how the next colors print. And keep out of the hot sun!

Sam

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