[alt-photo] Re: casein

[Diana Bloomfield]

I thought I sent this before, but now can't find that I did.  Anyway, thanks for including the link to your casein prints here, Chris.  I think these are so lovely-- really nice-- and the subtlety perfectly matches the images (image content), to my eye, and on my screen.  I like so many of these.  I also saw some wonderfully vivid ones that Peter Blackburn has done.  So casein seems like it has the ability to do both-- and has a lot of advantages over gum.  I look forward to giving it a try.  

Diana

On Jun 19, 2012, at 10:37 PM, Christina Anderson wrote:

> Hi Kurt,
> 
> Good question...probably because I've been doing gum for 15 years and casein for 1 1/2 makes me much more comfortable with my "native language" so to speak. In fact I never intended on even doing the damn process until Sam Wang set me up for it by telling me about the Enos archives in Kentucky, so when I was there doing a workshop I couldn't resist...research is my drug of choice, like a treasure hunt where everything is free!
> 
> I would consider casein a dichromated colloid process just like gum, but the practice, though having similarities, does not seem directly translatable. Peter Blackburn could answer that question better since he's done so many of both.
> 
> If you look at http://christinaanderson.visualserver.com/Portfolio.cfm?nK=11961 these are all casein prints, but I don't have the same print in both gum and casein, but that's a great idea. WIll be doing more of that when I get back home after my NY trip. Virtually all of those prints were spray developed. The one of the comb was literally scrub developed so to me that is about as grainy as you're gonna get. Personally, that is my favorite print of the bunch....all of these prints were my first working with casein, casein powder, not fresh casein, though I have not noticed an appreciable performance difference.
> 
> Evan, my casein from 1/4 c cottage cheese rinsed (60ml volume, rinsed weight 48g) ended up in 20ml 10% ammonia +30ml water. I think your solution is too thick. I printed casein on Yupo and it didn't budge.
> 
> Don, I think with perfect practice in casein they would be as subtle as any print. I can't believe the subtlety of the few prints in Enos' archive in Louisville KY. The layer is so thin and fine-grained that the subtlety would be greater than gum perhaps even. But if you're referring to a "soot and chalk" effect, I think that is due to what feels almost like an on/off exposure scale. In fact, I printed bitmap negs and they look good.
> 
> But hey, I'm just learning all this stuff so don't take my word for it.
> 
> Maybe tomorrow I'll get some answers in the library why it didn't take off...
> 
> Sorry answering all these at once in one email.
> 
> Chris
>