... I am very hesitant to say something can't be done. I know that several
of the things I do have been stated not to work. Such as, I mix a whole tube
of pigment with the appropriate amount of gum and keep the mix in 4 oz.
plastic bottles. I have been doing this for years.
I have also had students make beautiful prints using methods that are clearly
impossible. Such as, one of the prettiest gum prints I have ever seen was a
two-coat gum with each coat exposed in Los Angeles noon sun for over an hour
for each coat. When I looked at the neg it was normal to thin. And even
though I would expect dark mud the print just glows.
Given this I would probably only comment with something positive to say....
Bernie
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And a PS from Judy: Yeah, me too. I mean I only comment with something
positive to say, too, right?
But about that print in the LA sun for two hours -- are you sure it had
dichromate in it?
And finally, to save people who've had to pay for these 4 messages from
having to pay for yet another (see Deborah Tannen on apologies in today's
NY Times magazine), a message to Peter Fredrick about yellow pigment: Yes,
I made a gross overgeneralization. But, like I said, I can explain.
The first yellow I used was Winsor yellow, and the separate sample under
the 21-step looked rather green. I concluded therefore that it wasn't any
good -- and *yet* it looked OK in the print -- to my novice eye. The next
yellow I used was the next one I grabbed, Rowney medium yellow, as I
recall, & it looked good, too. Hence my "overgeneralization." However, I
have made all of 2 tricolor gum prints to date. Like the singing dog: the
wonder is that it happened at all. I'm not up to nuances yet -- a stage,
it turns out, makes life much easier. (Another topic to be sure.)
Cheers,
Judy