From: Peter Marshall (petermarshall@cix.co.uk)
Date: 02/03/00-04:31:04 PM Z
> As you know I receved my copy of " Spirts of Salts " I have ben lookin
> threw it but a few things bother me. A exp on gum under shopping list
> they say buy a small bottle or glue Don't bother with the traditional
> gum arabic it iss difficult to prepare and needs a preservative to
> keep. It goes on and shows you how to mix using glue. I satrted working
> alt -process with gum I have not done it in a long time but I never
> heard of using glue. I know there a lot of you out there who work with
> gum. Have eny of you used glue?? I got my Amexp bill on the book it was
> $ 33.34 in dollers Take care James Romeo,
>
James
First if you have used gum arabic you have used glue - gum arabic is a
major component of many glues, so many of them can be used to make gum
prints. Gloy is a common glue in the UK, but does not contain gum arabic
- it is made from PVA with some additives (the pure PVA used to make up
Gloy works as well - but I don't know its exact specification.)
If you move to the UK you will have no problems with producing fine gum
prints using Gloy - as so many here have demonstrated time after time. If
you go to the forthcoming APIS at Bath you will doubtless be able to see
some. Its been working here for around fifteen years or more.
Gum arabic is a natural product and is different (if only slightly) every
time you buy it and its properties change with age even if preservative is
used. Gloy is made to a very carefully controlled specification, and has
little or no change with age. In a process with so many variables it's
good to cut them down a little.
Why it didn't work for some people in the USA is one of the great unsolved
mysteries of gum printing. But the important point is to find something
that works for you and work with it. If others find that they can do
things completely differently and get the results they want, that's fine.
There is no single right way to make gum prints!
Peter Marshall
Photography guide at About.com http://photography.about.com/
email: photography.guide@about.com
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