[alt-photo] Re: quick question re gum clearing

[Judy Seigel]

On Sat, 2 Jan 2010, Christina Anderson wrote:

> I never clear, Paul, now that I have decreased my dichromate to 15% am 
> di and don't overexpose. It never seems to need it stainwise and 
> archivally it doesn't either. Chris
>
> Christina Z. Anderson
> christinaZanderson.com

I got the feeling in early days of "alt" that "clearing" was a hold-over 
from folks accustomed to fixing silver-gelatin. In fact in some early 
e-mails (also some texts) I recall it being called "fixing."

It was generally accepted that leaving fixer in silver gelatin prints 
would degrade them. There may have been a kind of mental transfer from 
finishing silver-gelatin to finishing alt. (And, like I said, that final 
wash was sometimes called "fixing"...) It was probably important to clear 
VDB, and cyanotype could also degrade, but with gum -- maybe not (if you 
didn't mind the stain).

Not to mention that if dichromate stain did appear in a gum print it could 
be removed in a plain water soak. I do vaguely recall a test leaving 
dichromate stain in half a print and checking (maybe a few months) later. 
It was fine... I also found that a print with the "white" stained yellow 
from dichromate could be cleared in an hour or two of plain water soak. On 
the third hand, it's not so easy to get "dichromate stain" when you want 
it (easier when you don't).

Judy


> On Jan 1, 2010, at 10:08 PM, Paul Viapiano wrote:
>
>> I never clear my gum prints with, what is it, sodium metabisulfite? (I'm too lazy to get up and check my Post Factory journals...)
>>
>> I mean, do I HAVE to clear them or only if I see dichromate stain?
>>
>> Would love to hear what you all do...
>>
>> Paul
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