[alt-photo] Re: sizing options for color gum

[Paul Viapiano]

I use a foam brush or roller...works great, too!

I find the less fussy I am with a process, the better it turns out...



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Bryant" <donsbryant at gmail.com>
To: "'The alternative photographic processes mailing list'" 
<alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 10:46 AM
Subject: [alt-photo] Re: sizing options for color gum


> +1. Perfect excuse to have a badger hair brush (real or fake).
>
> Don
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org
> [mailto:alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org] On Behalf 
> Of
> Paul Viapiano
> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 1:36 PM
> To: The alternative photographic processes mailing list
> Subject: [alt-photo] Re: sizing options for color gum
>
> You can brush out those fish eyes... Just keep brushing if that's what
> you're experiencing.
>
>
>
> On Jan 18, 2012, at 3:39 AM, Henry Rattle <henry.rattle at ntlworld.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi - a year or two back I did some comparisons between PVA and my normal
>> sizing of 3% food gelatin brushed on with formalin in a well-ventilated
>> room. I use Saunders Waterford HP or Fabriano Artistico traditional white
>> CP, and these tests were with 3-colour prints coated in the order Winsor
>> Yellow - WN Permanent Rose - Winsor Blue (green shade).
>>
>> The conclusions in my notebook were:
>>
>> PVA sizing is very quick and easy, and the paper curls less than with
>> gelatin.
>>
>> At full strength, the Gamblin PVA-sized paper was hard to coat evenly 
>> with
>> gum/pigment - lots of fish-eyes and lots of brushing needed (with 
>> gelatin,
>> the gum goes on with relatively little brushing). Clearing the gum coat
>> after exposure was almost too easy.
>>
>> With 1+1 dilution of the PVA, gum coats went on better. 1+2 was harder to
>> clear. Clearing was OK, but the final texture of the prints, viewed close
>> up, was noticeably less smooth with the PVA than with gelatin. The print
>> texture is "speckled" - maybe I did't coat the PVA well enough - but I
>> preferred the smoother final texture of the gelatin-sized print. Of
> course,
>> as Chris pointed out, PVA is a lot less hassle than coating with hot,
> smelly
>> gelatin!
>>
>> I'll give it another go - and next time I think I'll try Diana's approach
> of
>> sizing only after the first colour layer. What a great source of
> inspiration
>> this list is!
>>
>> Best wishes to you all
>>
>> Henry
>>
>>
>> On 17/01/2012 14:08, "Peter Blackburn" <blackburnap at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Fair enough, to each his or her own. I originally kept an iron around as
> a
>>> "quick fix" to help flatten papers which exhibited too much curl and
> buckling.
>>>
>>> Peter J. Blackburn
>>>
>>>> From: dhbloomfield at bellsouth.net
>>>> To: alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org
>>>> Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:51:52 -0500
>>>> Subject: [alt-photo] Re: sizing options for color gum
>>>>
>>>> Thanks, Peter.
>>>>
>>>> I actually did all but #3 on your list.  Honestly, I don't even think
>>>> I own an iron (and don't plan on buying one any time soon).
>>>>
>>>> The final coat  (unsized) was actually fine; I certainly would have
>>>> had no problem exhibiting it.  In a side-by-side comparison, though, I
>>>> simply didn't like it as much as the one I made with a thin coating of
>>>> PVA, so -- as stated before-- I'll happily go back to using that.  My
>>>> preference is subjective, for sure; I could have shown it to someone
>>>> else, and he/she may have liked the other better.
>>>>
>>>> And I don't actually find using PVA a problem-- at all.  It's non-
>>>> toxic, relatively inexpensive, lasts forever, extraordinarily easy to
>>>> use, doesn't leave a shine when I apply it, and takes very little time
>>>> to apply (certainly less time than ironing-- though, at this point, I
>>>> can barely remember what ironing is like??).
>>>>
>>>> Thanks again.
>>>>
>>>> Diana
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 17, 2012, at 8:35 AM, Peter Blackburn wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Just a brief follow up on this portion of Diana's comment,  "I know
>>>>> you're already aware of all this, and this isn't specifically
>>>>>> what you asked--  but I also recently printed an image on Fabriano
>>>>>> soft-press without sizing all, using what was only in the paper.  It
>>>>>> did really well, though I felt the third coat wasn't as "clean" as I
>>>>>> would have preferred-- so I just went back to using the PVA.  I just
>>>>>> know for sure, using that, that I won't have a problem." My
>>>>>> suggestions would be 1) be certain the chosen pigments are capable
>>>>>> of printing "clean" on out-of-the-package Fabriano if brilliant
>>>>>> highlights are desired. 2) be certain the paper is completely dry
>>>>>> between coats, and 3) before applying an additional coat, try
>>>>>> ironing the paper with the iron set on a midrange heat selection.
>>>>>> AKD is a type of synthetic wax which "melts" under heat. Ironing
>>>>>> the paper will restore a bit of smoothness while rejuvenating the
>>>>>> residing AKD in the paper.  Cheers everyone!
>>>>> Peter J. Blackburn
>>>>
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