>At 12:21 AM 11/3/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>Hi all
>>
>>We have been making gum prints since 1984. The last 10 years we have made
>>our gum solutions from lumps. Today a very odd thing happened. As we were
>>going to test a new supplier we made two different solutions. With the new
>>supplier everything went well but with the one that we have used before an
>>odd thing happened.......
Gum is quite a variable substance. I have a rather long and interesting paper on gum Arabic on my web site that came from the Sudanese government. It may be the Glyoxal is reacting with something in the old gum. You don't say how you are dissolving this stuff and my experience was that it would often ferment. If you add the glyoxal when you are dissolving the gum then it might not ferment, but then that may have caused problems, especially if you are dissolving lumps in a muslin or cheesecloth bag. I prefer to dissolve powder in a blender by slowly adding it to cold water while it is whirring, you can make it thick enough to walk on Use a high quality food grade gum, some grades will kick out enough dirt to start a garden.
Glyoxal is not foolproof and it does have a slight odor, but it is a far cry from formaldehyde!
Dick Sullivan
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Bostick & Sullivan
Http://www.bostick-sullivan.com
505-474-0890 FAX 505-474-2857
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