[alt-photo] Re: Sizing

[Mary]

I started having fun when I started sizing my paper, Paul!

Before that it wasn't much fun. It was almost enough to make me give up 
on gum printing altogether. I can't tell you how many sheets of Fabriano 
Artistico I wasted due to staining when I began printing gum a few years 
ago. Maybe I'm using the wrong pigments (phthalo blue, quinacridone 
rose, Ni azo yellow, earth pigments; DSmith or MGraham) or making the 
pigment/gum ratio too strong, but when I figured out a sizing system 
that worked for me, everything else fell into place: recently dilute 
PVA; before that gelatin hardened with glyoxal. I find it essential to 
preshrink in cool water to avoid registration problems, whether I use 
the 140lb or my preferred 300lb.

I gotta admit I'm jealous of you folks that have success without sizing, 
but it has never happened that way for me.
What I've learned about gum printing in the last 5-or-so years is that 
it takes a lot of practice, and each person has to figure out what works 
best for them.

Mary in Boise
-- 
/http://www.alternative-ego.com/
/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gneissgirl//

On 12/9/2011 5:04 PM, Paul Viapiano wrote:
> <snip>
> What I've learned in the 2-3 years I've been working in gum is that 
> there are NO rules and that you don't have to make your life so 
> difficult with all the dogma that's out there. Get your hands into it, 
> experiment and most of all, have fun!
>
> Paul