Barney, you may have missed or not registered the antecedents of my question:
I had tried the ossein (as well as American porcine) as initial size for
paper for gum printing, having been led by Mr. King to believe this was
not only possible, but desirably superior.
My finding in the sad event, as I reported at some tedious length I'm
sure, was that very very few of the papers (some 12-14 in test batch) that
had been ossein- or porcine-sized cleared by automatic development, which
is my test procedure.
That is my test procedure because a size that will clear automatically can
also be exposed for a longer time and brush-developed, but a size that
*requires* brush development, won't do auto-development. In other words,
should I ever decide to get crude about it, or desperate, I could
brush-develop (did I think once last year), but not the other way around.
And of the few samples that did clear, ****NONE**** cleared as nicely as
the plain unsized paper (among those that can be printed without a size)
or the same paper sized with Knox gelatine, hardened with glyoxal.
Therefore, when Terry informed me that his students had bought 56 pounds
of ossein (planning to gum print the entire northern hemisphere, I
suppose), and adduced this as proof of its wonderfulness, it occurred to
me to inquire what their frame of reference was. The thought that they
might not know other kinds of "development" are possible leapt to mind.
Now possibly, given the quantities described, they're planning carbon
printing, bromoil, and strawberry mousse, but I have, rather than an
answer to that question, gotten a lecture on the virtues of ossein!
Let's say it's right up there with Mother Theresa. And that there is some
other factor in your UK practice, or my US practice, that causes the
difference. This Terry seemed not, as far as I could tell, to explore,
simply advising that I "must be missing something." I daresay.
Meanwhile, I infer that the Knox is, I'll give you benefit of doubt
& say, not better, but as good, and pending further motivation close
that line of investigation on this end.
Meanwhile, I promise, trust me, calling a spade a fork has not been one
of the many mistakes I have made nor of the many I am preparing to make
in the very near future, practically as I write.
Judy