Taking the information Risa and I sent should produce a good gum print.
Starting gum printing can be very frustrating. It is especially so when what
opne has been told by 'experts' does not work.
I said "Forget 'Keepers of Light ' for gum printing. It is an absolute disaster
and that is why you are having problems", because it is overcomplicated and if
you follow its instructions you may get a gum print but not a good one. If that
is what you did at college I can only assume that part of your difficulty is
that you have not had a reasonable yardstick by which to judge your results.
" Mix 5 cc of gum with it and see how that looks when you spread it on
the plate, and then add 5 cc of the dichromate."
You say "What I was trying to do was to make a smaller "one shot dose" for
each layer of color. I went to my notes from the 3 semesters worth of
work and found that we were going with 9cc of gum to 3cc of
aluminum (GLENN. I THINK YOU MEAN AMMONIUM) dichromate, with 1/2 inch of
black, or 1 1/2 inches of
yellow, or 3/4 inch of red, or 1 inch of blue. It seemed to work
well for single coated, monocolor prints."
That recipe, from what I have seen, will produce crude and contrasty monocolor
prints with no hope of success with multicolor.
You said that you were making three colour prints and starting with black. I
must admit I did not understand that so I gave you the basic information so that
you could at least make a good start.
Three colour could mean that you just wanted to make a print with three colours
in it. Risa wondered why you were starting with black.
The usual description of the kind of naturalistic colour you get in a colour
photograph in a book or a newspaper is four colour. These are printed in the
order, yellow, magenta,cyan and then black. Each is printed from a separation
negative exposed trhrough red blue and green filters; the black one receives
exposure from all three. I assume that this what you are doing.
I have taken a group of students, shot a photograph on E6 material, had it
developed, made separations, and coated the paper with m,y c and b in order and
exposed in order and developed in order, to produce a four colour gum print in
one college day.
Try it according to the method that Risa and I told you and you will be
successful. But I suggest that you try printing multicolour prints first with
the colours related to the tones, highlights followed by middles followed by
shadows, before you try the eqivalent of a nine second hundred yards.
As to sizing it depends on whether you want consistent results. It is quite
possible to get results without sizing if you are using papers that are both
body and tub sized already. If I have some reason for wanting to get it right
without risk, size.
Mixed gum can go off in two days. It all depends on the gum.
I do not know what you mean by 'set up' but I have already explained that you
were using far too much pigment. It also sounds as if you were using too little
dichromate. Which dichromate were you using and how strong was it.
I do not understand why ytou were using a mask but your problems will arise from
the factors Risa and I have already explained.
Let us know how you tests work on this basis and we will see how we can help you
further.
Terry
.