[alt-photo] Re: casein

[Tomas Sobota]

I tried casein briefly some two years ago. Didn't prepare the casein from
milk but rather bought in dry form. I still have a kg of the thing, they
wouldn't sell me less!

The process must be much faster than gum indeed, I used the same exposure
times as for gum and the prints came heavily overexposed. Also more
contrasted. I left it at that and didn't pursue the process further.

I would really appreciate if any of the casein users on the list cared to
explain what differences there are between a casein and a gum print once
finished.

Tom


On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 6:55 PM, Peter Blackburn <blackburnap at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Hi Christina and all:
>
> Yes, I do casein quite a bit—much of the time, fact and LOVE IT. It has
> quite a few advantages over gum with shorter printing times being one. And
> since I use the sun, I can work in casein on somewhat cloudy days—days which
> would create havoc with gum. It can be blotted dry after processing with a
> towel unlike gum which would smear or worse! My casein is pure white which
> makes it a bit easier to see and evaluate hue and density during the mixing
> stage. Casein is a little more fluid allowing for the use of brushes usually
> reserved for inks and dyes. There are a few more advantages which would take
> a bit of time to explain. Yes, casein is quite underrated in my opinion.
> Casein had been used in primitive painting in ages past. Why gum had about a
> fifty-year head start over casein for dichromate printing is a mystery to
> me. However, I make my casein fresh directly from cheese which I think makes
> ALL the difference in the world. Someday I will get this down in
> publication.
>
> Hope you are doing well, Christina, in all of your extensive traveling and
> teaching. You seem quite busy these days.
>
> Cheers to all!
>
>
> Peter J. Blackburn
>
>
> > From: zphoto at montana.net
> > Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:43:44 -0700
> > To: alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org
> > Subject: [alt-photo] Re: casein
> >
> > Keith!
> > Thanks for the info!
> >
> > One casein printer said it was half the gum printing time...
> >
> > Christina Z. Anderson
> > christinaZanderson.com
> >
> > On Feb 25, 2011, at 9:35 AM, Keith Gerling wrote:
> >
> > > I've used the Kremer product and it is cheap and easy. I have not used
> it a
> > > LOT, because I really did not see much advantage of casein over gum,
> but
> > > then I admit that I only used it on wood panels, so the "test" was
> hardly
> > > extensive. The results that I got were very interesting and I can
> certainly
> > > promise that I will get back to it in the future when it warms up and I
> can
> > > haul my lazy self out to Menards for more wood. At the moment I am
> printing
> > > tons of cyanotypes on Masa. Casein on masa? That sounds like
> frustration
> > > in the making...
> > >
> > > But while we are on the subject, maybe I can ask a couple of questions
> of
> > > anybody that has worked with casein. I believe Loris mentioned that the
> > > exposure is less than with gum. Is that the case? How much less?
> Loris??
> > > Any comment? In my case, I cut the exposure back by 20% and the prints
> > > still needed some heavy brushing/rubbing/spraying to clear. The
> emulsion
> > > was rather opaque compared to gum, and the print was rather similar to
> a
> > > temperaprint. Had the print been on paper, I doubt it would have
> survived.
> > > So maybe i need to cut the exposure waaaaay back.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 10:11 AM, Christina Anderson <
> zphoto at montana.net>wrote:
> > >
> > >> Yup--did...Lukas seems to be one who has done the process extensively,
> and
> > >> he was on the list if not still is.
> > >> Chris
> > >>
> > >> Christina Z. Anderson
> > >> christinaZanderson.com
> > >>
> > >> On Feb 25, 2011, at 9:05 AM, Paul Viapiano wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Look at Lukas Werth's prints on Flickr...beautiful and lots of them!
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christina Anderson" <
> > >> zphoto at montana.net>
> > >>> To: "Alt List" <alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org>
> > >>> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 7:48 AM
> > >>> Subject: [alt-photo] casein
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>> (whoops, sent this with the wrong email so sending again)
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Good morning!
> > >>>>
> > >>>> So I'm on this casein hunt for one silly reason--I blame it on Sam
> Wang.
> > >> Long ago I saw Sam Wang's caseins and thought them beautiful. Four of
> them
> > >> are in his book, Sam Wang, Four Decades of Photographic Explorations,
> > >> another "must-buy" alt book for just the HUGE amount of alt work
> documented
> > >> within its pages. Sam's work is very poetic, subtle.
> > >>>
> > >>> _______________________________________________
> > >>> Alt-photo-process-list | http://altphotolist.org/listinfo
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
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> > >>
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