Larry
I would suggest that any gum print that needs more than 2 to 3 minutes
development is grossly over-exposed. If you want delicacy of tone and
gradation I would also suggest that you make a practice of natural drying.
This would be for each coat of multiple coatings.
As Judy says forced drying is likely to lead to staining. I had often
wondered why a colleague seemed to think that staining was inherent to the
process when it never had beens a problem for me. In fact he consistently
dried his gum coatings in hot streams of air and in daylight. By both of
these actions he was causing excessive insolubilisation which prevents the
washing away of the dichromate.
As to VDB fixing one needs only a small proportion of hypo, perhaps 2 %,
and fixing with constant agitation for two minutes. As this is such a week
solution it is better to throw it away before it is exhausted. As the cost
of the fixer in the dish is less than a penny the safest practice, in terms
of print quality and the economics of the botttom line, is to mix fresh
each time.
Terry
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