[alt-photo] Re: Gum over cyanotype question

[Mary]

Thanks for your kind words, Loris! (blush)

Too much blue has not been a problem for me except in a few cases, and 
it was usually due to accidental over-exposure, or just poor printing 
technique and laziness about curves. In a couple of cases where the blue 
was too much, I have gently bleached the print in a very dilute solution 
of washing soda (sodium carbonate) for a few seconds, then thoroughly 
rinsed before going on to the first gum layer. That tames the blue if 
it's too strong. I'm using FAEW, hot and soft press, by the way.

I was of your mind, Diana, before I tried using cyanotype for the blue 
parts of the print. Why introduce yet another process and all the 
additional steps needed for that? Then I tried it at Chris' workshop in 
Montana in 2010 and that convinced me. The main reason I like it is that 
it's quick and easy (develops in a few minutes) and provides a nice 
framework for the other layers. It requires no dichromate, thus reducing 
the total amount I use.....Unless I choose to do an additional final 
blue gum layer, as Chris recently mentioned she does. Sometimes I do 
that at half strength and it's just enough to put the icing on the cake, 
so to speak, bringing it all together.  But in general, it's not an 
issue of too much blue with cyanotype, rather too little by the time the 
print has all 3 colors on it.

But as has been said hundreds of times about all this stuff, Your 
Mileage May Vary!

Glad you pointed to Jim Larimer's gum-over cyanotypes, too. They are 
among my favorites.

Cheers,
Mary

On 2/27/2012 2:23 PM, Loris Medici wrote:
> Hi Diana,
>
> I guess it depends on your style / vision. You know Sam's, Christina's
> gum over cyanotypes. (And many many others, too many to name
> actually... But let me provide links to Mary's (Donato) two great
> galleries consisting gum over cyanotypes below:
>