Re: First print on Al

[Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>]

On Mar 22, 2009, at 11:08 AM, Rajul wrote:
> Color Merging: when you do a yellow gum on top of a blue gum pass  
> on paper media , you get some green areas. I did not see any green  
> on my first Al print: the two colors remained unmixed, defined by  
> the underlying brush strokes from the gessoeing  and the brush  
> strokes from spreading the gum emulsion.
Hi Rajul,
Just want to be sure I'm picturing this right.  You're using color  
separations, right, and there are areas in the image that should be  
green, and that would be green if you were printing with the same  
pigment mixes on paper, but don't mix to green on the aluminum?  You  
just have blue patches and yellow patches?

If so, I'll hazard a guess from my experiences printing on yupo and  
glass:  you need more tooth.  What it sounds like is that the first  
gum layer to adhere to a particular area is the only one that gets to  
stay, as there's not enough tooth left to hold onto the second  
layer.  So basically rather than layers of color, you have areas of  
one-layer color.  Mixing paint of the exact intermediate color you  
need is one solution, but getting more tooth is another.  I wasn't  
sure from your description whether you've added any pumice to this  
point, but if not, I'll bet you'll get better color mixtures when you  
start using pumice.  Good luck!

I've just come across boxes and boxes of ceramic floor tiles that the  
previous owner of the house left to me; he thought maybe I could use  
them in the laundry room, but I put down vinyl sheeting there  
instead.  But now I'm wondering how those would be to print gum on,  
if prepared with a gesso-pumice ground.  Certainly more fragile than  
aluminum or wood, but free.  Hmm....
Katharine