...... I find that if one washes a gum print in gently running water
for six hours......... If I wash the print for another two hours
IF you wash that long, are you talking of one, two, a batch (of prints)
which you turn over now and then?
IF you call "gently running water" about a gallon a minute, this is using
60 gallons of water per hour, or 360 gallons JUST to make a print as
permanent as possible. It is flagrant misuse of THE precious commodity.
What about soaking in a tray for X minutes and then another tray and then
another and then another etc. Would not leaching work as well as rinsing?
I mention this as water is perhaps the single most needed liquid on earth
and it's pollution and reduction is scary. We as fine art (& not so fine)
photographic artists need to use less water. For instance, Ilford's latest
info re washing film and also paper is VERY informative.
Do not mean to rankle feathers here ... maybe being from California and
just spending 6 days hiking in the Grand Canyon and observing the drought
in Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico (worst in over 100 years) has made me
sensitive.
Jack Fulton
***The eye is the Pencil of Nurture***