katharine thayer wrote:
> Tom Ferguson writes
> "I wondered when I read the original post if Katharine started in gum
> with a Photographer's Formulary kit"
>
> Actually I started with Kwik Print, thinking that after I mastered that
> I would move on to gum, but I just couldn't make Kwik Print work for me
> at all and finally gave up on it. I did have a conversation with the
> manufacturer of the materials who told me I probably had outdated
> materials and that's why it wouldn't work. And then, I guess I did get
> PF's kit. It's been quite a while ago and I'm a bit fuzzy about it, but
> I don't know why else I would have this Grumbacher lamp black, and also
> now that I think of it, the cute little bottles that I pour the gum into
> out of the gallon jug to make it easier to handle must have come from
> that kit. At any rate I quickly used up the kit, except for the lamp
> black (at the time I was using other colors and wasn't interested in
> printing black) and went on to buying in bulk. I prefer Daniel Smith
> watercolors, although for a time I was using Graham, a brand that's made
> in Oregon and may not be known elsewhere. (They were having a half price
> sale on it at my local arts supply store.) My palette is somewhat
> idiosyncratic but gives me the soft unsaturated look I like in the
> tricolor gums. For monochromes I tend to soft blue-greys, greens, browns
> and a warm black.
>
> Thanks for your input about gum. I wasn't sure when I posted which gum I
> was using, but I'm sure now that it's PF gum and that I'd been planning
> to get Daniel Smith next, because it's cheaper, but hadn't yet ordered
> it. With all this talk about how much success depends on sticking with
> the combination that works for you, I'm a bit reluctant to switch,
> because everything is going fine as is.
>
> Katharine