Re: a few notes on my first few gum prints...

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

Hi Paul. I'll sound cheap here but a (relatively) nice quality flat  
foam brush (those with wooden handle and harder foam) is what I use  
for coating and it worked well for me since the start. I smooth the  
coating with a cheap synthetic brush (since it dries very fast with  
the aid of a hair dryer and is ready in a short time for the next  
print/coat) because some paints tend to coagulate (if you like;  
couldn't find a better description) and give a grainy look if I  
don't... I don't coat by numbers (e.g. 2.5 ml per 8x10") so using a  
foam brush (which absorbs a substantial amnt. of coating solution and  
is hard to control in that aspect) doesn't hurt.

Regards,
Loris.


On 04.Tem.2009, at 09:36, Paul Viapiano wrote:

> ...
> One, is the use of hake brushes. I've been using the inexpensive  
> variety found at the typical art store, about $2-4 each. Coating is  
> difficult with these because there is absolutely no spring to them,  
> they just go limp and the hair goes every which way even brushing  
> lightly. I know how to coat pt/pd and am always successful when  
> coating that emulsion. Gum, although more viscous than pt/pd should  
> still flow on quite easily.
> ...
> Here's something else...I notice that Sam Wang, in his gum article  
> on Unblinking Eye, brushes on his gum coating and doesn't use  
> another dry brush to smooth it. I'm thinking of trying this as well,  
> as long as I can get a really smooth, even coat down with a good  
> brush.
>
> One of the things I noticed was that while burnishing my coating  
> with a dry brush, it started getting very grainy looking. I'm  
> thinking that I could keep the smoothness if I just brush on once,  
> nice and thin, and don't use another brush to burnish and dry.