detail with gum printing
Arthur Richards (arthurrichards@hotmail.com)
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 22:03:04 -0700 (PDT)
I've been asked to tell how I do gum printing. Ok here goes. First I
have to say that I work for a newspaper in central Illinois and that my
negatives are fairly easy to obtain. we have a machine called a pelbox
that prints out negatives,and these negatives are very thin, I can get
b&w negatives or color separations and they will easily print the
detail. another method of obtaining negatives is that I expose 8x10
sheet film with a slide about 2 seconds stopped all the way down then
develope the neg in hc110. I try to find a paper that works for me and
just stay with it.I don't print on wood, tiles, pillowcases or anything
else but 100% rag content drawing paper, after all one of those little
voices inside me that won't let me stop doing this says it has to last
thousands of years or it's not worth it.When I have the paper I
preshrink it in hot water, dry, then I get knox gelatin ready and as hot
as I can stand it. I dip the sheets of paper in the gelatin, let it dry,
then dip it in formalin to harden the gelatin. I do that procedure 3
times and the formalin three times, then I print on it. I use a 10%
solution of potassium dichromate and 5 grams of watercolor paint with
25mg of gum arabic. I mix 5cc of each then paint the emulsion on with a
fan brush, allow to dry in a cool place then expose by contact under 2
ultraviolet shop lights for 9 minutes then develope in the sink. I let
them dry and I re-expose them for contrast, but I've never had to expose
3 times yet. The book that I basically went by is one by david
skopick-The gum bichromate book but every time I think I know it all I
learn something new
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