Ruined 3rd tricolor gum print! Grrrr...

[Loris Medici <mail@loris.medici.name>]

Hi all,

I'm trying tricolor gum printing using plain paper negatives.

I start with yellow (Schmincke 208 Aureolin Modern PY151 Benzimidazolone),
then I print the magenta (Schmincke 351 Ruby Red PV19 Quinacridone Red)
and everything (tonality, smoothness, color) is good & nice up to here...

As the last layer, I print the cyan (Schmincke 479 Helio Cerulean PB15:3
Phtalocyanine Blue) and somehow it's too overwhelming, very uneven, and it
flakes like crazy!

Pigment amounts are as following:
1. Yellow, pea sized, into 3.75ml gum + 3.75ml dichromate
2. Magenta, lentil sized (read as: half of yellow), same as 1
3. Cyan, lentil sized (same as magenta), same as 1

Exposure times and dichromate amounts are the same for all three layers
(15mins., 20% ammonium dichromate). I use automatic development for 30
minutes, sometimes a little longer according to how it looks.

I don't know why I'm having this problem but will try to (all together):
a) Print in the opposite order (1. Cyan, 2. Magenta, 3. Yellow)
b) Use even less cyan pigment to match the color intensity of previous layers
c) Try to not panic while struggling to coat an extra even cyan layer...

What can you say? Any ideas on why I'm stuck that way?

Thanks in advance,
Loris.