You are talking about the 4-color version of the process here, which I
don't personally like. The monochrome version has basically no flaws.
>repeatibility, and is difficult to manufacture / process. If I understand
>correctly, carbon is easier to make and is more repeatible.
Carbon (transfer) is definitely easier (just add water...) and more repeatable.
>Of course, Fresson looks very different from carbon. We should not compare
>apples and oranges, but why is there such a big difference as far as making it
>commercial?
You mean commercially feasible? Very simple. It is a 19th century
technology somewhat akin to clock making --another lost art. Way back then,
trade techniques and secrets were transmitted from one generation to the
next. This is what happened to the Fresson process. As long as it goes from
one generation to the next there is no problem teaching a considerable
amount of skills to the younger generation, which picks it up like a new
language. It's effortless and perfectly natural. You know what it's like to
learn a language when you are say, 20 or older? It is MUCH more difficult.
They have streamlined their operation quite effectively. When they do a run
of magenta (on top of the cyan developed image), they do it all day, etc.
Somewhat like Vivex streamlined carbro back in the 30s. See my
Encyclopedia.
>My guess, just a guess, is that Fresson prints look very unique to anyone who
>looks at them. When something is unique, sometimes it is hard to say whether
>it looks good or bad. It is just unique, and that uniqueness gives a special
>market. Carbon, on the other hand, look just like "better looking" photographs
>to an *untrained* eye.
This is way oversimplified. There is uniquely crappy and there is uniquely
fantastic. The latter, as you should know by now, is what has caused many
people to spend extraordinary amounts of efforts trying to solve the
squaring of the circle...
>>> The number of things that can and will go wrong with carbon is staggering.
> For some unknown reason, most of these problems disappear after a
> considerable amount of experience has been gained.
>
>I liken making alt. process print with riding a bicycle. Before you get it,
>everything goes wrong. No matter how others explain to you, you just can't get
>it right; then some day you get it, and you get it, and you get it. It is hard
>to explain what you know before and after you get it, but you just get it.
good analogy
>>> Been there, done that, and got the T-shirt;-)
> >>
>
>This is a second language question for me again. What does "got the T-Shirt"
>mean?
It's a local expression. A variant is "and got the bumper sticker". You
must have seen those cars with the bumper sticker that says "this car
climbed Mt. Washington". The bumper sticker (or T-shirt) is the "proof"
that you have achieved something.
Luis
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