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

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

Yes, soft is good. My "harder" comment was relative; we have two types  
of wooden handle foam brushes which both are "soft" by any standard.  
The one I mention is slightly harder (but again it's still soft) and  
has a slightly finer texture. That one works better for me.

Foam brush so easy and practical that I can't imagine coating myself  
using any kind of hake for watercolor wash brushes.

One thing I don't like with usual brushes is that when you have to be  
quick and use them harshly (such as coating gum emulsion over a large  
area) they tend to spray tiny tiny drops of emulsion on the paper   
edges and/or coating area. Since in those tiny drops will contain  
dichromate in gum printing, I don't like that idea at all...  
(Smoothing / burnishing is different; the emulsion is more viscous /  
tacky when you start smoothing, therefore no bubbles.)

Anyway, each to their own.

Regards,
Loris.


On 05.Tem.2009, at 07:04, Judy Seigel wrote:
> ...
> The good ones, as Loris describes, were the ones with the wooden  
> handles, but that foam was softer, not harder, and therefore it more  
> easily applied an even coat (without edge ridges between strokes).   
> I imagine there are many types, varying by store and locality, but  
> IME the softer foam gives an evener, sweeter, easier coat.
> ...