U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: daniel smith gum

Re: daniel smith gum



On Fri, 25 Sep 2009, Paul Viapiano wrote:

Daniel Smith gum...standard or premium light?
Paul, in my experience, every year is different, according I understand to how much rain fell on the accacia groves that year, among other factors -- tho I assume they also blend together leftovers & odds and ends of this and that so none of it is pristine. Also each gummist has his/her own style that maybe likes this gum and not that. HOWEVER...

I found the Dan'l Smith standard gum marvelous & so much better than the
"premium" (which is at least or probably twice the price) that I ordered another gallon of the standard of the same lot...(remember the lot # is as important as the year)... which I still haven't used up because I had two other gallons of something else, etc. etc. etc.

Bear in mind meanwhile, that any of the gums will oxidize and turn dark while sitting on the shelf for 6 months or so & just keeps darkening. HOWEVER, my hunch is it's just a superstition. A big deal is made of having a nice pale gum, but I've never found it makes a difference in the final color, because the pigment is so much stronger than the gum "color"... EXCEPT if you mix a pale yellow paint with a very dark gum it will appear somewhat darker before printing, tho I don't know if that burns out during exposure because I never used the yellow solo... or if it even matters if it does or not because that very pale yellow isn't a very significant color on its own (& if it is I paint it in by hand).

Which is to say the look of the emulsion before printing is made into a big deal, but I have a feeling it's kind of irrelevant.

But it's so long since I've used the formulary gum, I can't comment on that, except to say every vintage is different every year and if you're used to one, & like it, why dink around ?

Finally, if you want a truly truly water clear gum, buy the tiny bottle of Windosr Newton watercolor gum that looks like water... It costs about as much per ounce as snob wine, and when I first tried it I was ready to pour it down the sink. But for some dumb reason (probably because it cost so much) I tried it some more... and ultimately found that you really could use it if you tried, and that it was pure & had NOOOO color of its own, ,,,,,,,,, if that matters, which it probably doesn't except for some occasional overpainting or touch ups.

Is there a big difference between the two and is it much different than the Formulary gum?

Just curious...

Paul