[alt-photo] Re: Getting started with gum dichromate printing

[Katharine Thayer]

Hi Tom,
I think you've got two questions here.

Others have given good answers for your explicit question:  where to  
find good basic instructions for learning gum.   I learned from  
Keepers of Light and a couple of other things that I kept open on my  
worktable while I was learning, but that was long before some of  
these more recent sources were available. I know that people have  
found Judy's articles useful,  I think Peter Blackburn's how-to  
articles on alternativephotography give solid information and advice,  
and there's lots of useful information online, for example there are  
some good tutorials here:

http://www.billymabrey.com/Tutorials.htm

But Paul has it right:  the best way to learn to print gum is by  
printing gum.  Any set of instructions will get you started and as  
long as they aren't too specific, can't take you too far wrong, but  
there's no substitute for practical experience with your own set of  
variables (equipment, paper, pigments, gum, etc etc).

Your question, however, raises another question in my mind:  if your  
ultimate goal is to print color carbon, why start with gum?  This  
idea doesn't make sense to me.  Gum and carbon are quite distinct  
processes;  each has its own requirements and difficulties, so  
learning gum isn't a step toward mastering carbon, and taking on gum  
will involve some time and difficulty that will delay your getting  
started with carbon, if that's what you want to do.   You shouldn't  
take the time to learn gum unless you really want to do gum; if  
carbon is what you want to do, then it seems to me the most efficient  
way to get there is to start printing carbon.  There are specialized  
forums for carbon printers online, and maybe someone here could point  
you to them.   Not that I want to discourage anyone from doing gum,  
but I would never suggest gum as a first step toward something else.   
Good luck,
Katharine


On Apr 8, 2010, at 7:14 AM, Tom Kershaw wrote:

> I'm considering whether to try gum printing, partly to gain some  
> experience with separation processes in anticipation of working  
> with colour carbon printing at some point in the future. Is  
> Christina Anderson's 2008 article on alternativephotography.com   
> still a good place to start?
>
> Tom Kershaw
>
>
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