Re: gum question
On Jun 8, 2008, at 11:17 AM, Diana Bloomfield wrote: You're right, though, about keeping notes-- for sure. I admit-- I'm typically very bad about that-- (tending to print like I cook). With attempting gum, though, I've gotten much better about keeping notes. Many of the standard "recipes" I've read, though, suggest using a lot more sensitizer for an equivalent size print. I had no idea I could use so much less (and definitely so much less dichromate washing off) and have it work so well. I'm not sure why the notes in some of these books suggest using so much-- unless I'm simply reading the instructions wrong.Higher concentration of dichromate increases the gum's sensitivity a little and lowers its contrast somewhat. These may be of some importance in the days of camera negatives, but neither is important these days with digital negatives. So, why dump so much of it down the drain? I dunno. We've gone over that here many times before. One thing I need to clarify is that calling Fabriano "unsized" is not correct. Almost all papers have been sized to various degrees in the manufacturing process, or they would absorb water like toilet tissue. The only exceptions are the "waterleaf" papers. The "watercolor" papers are sized quite a bit more than say printmaking papers. For those of us who prefer to not additionally size paper before use simply settle with the sizing that comes with the paper. But even some of the printmaking papers can stand a couple of gum layers without user added sizing. Sam
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