[alt-photo] Re: casein

[Alberto Novo]

> Anyway, I do have a point to share in this email that may be of use to the one or two casein printers in existence: has anyone tried this from Kremer instead of making the somewhat laborious casein/ammonia mixture? SInce it uses borax and is already in suspension, it would seem to be a great substitution. But I'm the first to admit I am an armchair casein printer, never having done it, and certainly would not make it my process of choice because of my commitment to gum.

> I found the patent on casein as well. It is not 271 but patent 2,716,061. 1955. Lupo. But two sources on the web said the process in fact dated from 1908 and don't know about that.

Chris, I made some casein prints some years ago. I tried both casein form 
acidified powdered milk and from pure casein, dissolved in borax and in 
ammonia. I deem the ammonia solution better than that in borax because all 
the excess of ammonia evaporates during drying.
In muy poor experience, I could define the look of gum and casein print as:
gum:watercolor=casein:tempera
My casein prints are in the Rodolfo Namias Group site, but I have to say 
that I was interested chiefly to apply the different behaviour of casein vs. 
gum arabic to a few specific images and one pigment. 

As for the patent, I can add that there are lot of patents about using 
alkaline casein and dichromate as a resist for the etching of TV color 
screens, chiefly because casein is insoluble in acids. So, the alkalinizing 
agent (sodium hydroxyde, borax and ammonia), the ratios with dichromate, 
etc. have benn well studied. 

And finally, a member of Gruppo Namias tried casein print using my detailed 
notes, but he had very inconsistent results... 

Alberto
www.grupponamias.com
www.alternativephotography.com/wp/photographers/rodolfo-namias-group