[alt-photo] Re: Gum over cyanotype question

[Diana Bloomfield]

Ah, okay.  That makes sense.  I wasn't thinking about the clarity issue.  Depending on whether I'm using a lens-based negative or not, though, I seem to get a fairly sharp layer in the blue pigment-- but maybe sharpness and clarity are all relative. ;)

I did use Buxton paper for a while there, back when it was expensive, but nothing like the right arm and leg it would cost you now.  That's really the only paper I ever used cyanotype on, by itself, where it really was such a gorgeous intense blue.  That's an amazing paper, but the cost now is just way out of sight.

Thanks, Loris.

On Feb 27, 2012, at 4:51 PM, Loris Medici wrote:

> Ok, I perfectly understand you. I guess it's the clarity / sharpness
> of cyanotype that makes people prefer it over a straight gum layer -
> the images are more punchy and sharp that way, don't you think?
> 
> Well, IME cyanotype is pretty hard to master - to me was a b_tch(!).
> (See, I'm talking about getting the possible dmax and the smoothest
> tones possible here...) For instance, pt/pd seems sooo easy after
> dealing with cyanotype. (At least was so to me!) It's the best
> teaching tool actually; it definitely tames (poor) students, and
> that's w/o costing them an arm and a leg... ;)
> 
> Regards,
> Loris.
> 
> 
> 27 Şubat 2012 23:38 tarihinde Diana Bloomfield
> <dhbloomfield at bellsouth.net> yazdı:
>> ...
>> Still, I've never quite understood why, when doing gum, the cyanotype would
>> be the choice (instead of pigment).  Not a criticism-- just a valid
>> question/observation.   It just seems like an additional step to me,
>> somehow.  For me, it just seems easier to use pigments all the way through.
>> 
>> I've used cyanotype over pt/pd quite a lot, but using cyanotype alone always
>> seemed troublesome to me (probably not using the right paper!).  My best
>> success with cyanotype (by itself) was, in fact, on muslin fabric.
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