From: Dave Rose (photo@wir.net)
Date: 02/03/01-08:15:01 PM Z
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
(snip)
> Dave, I'm trying to get better picture of your method (today is open mind
> day): you don't say what you fasten your register pins to, and where
> you're exposing what must by now be very large sandwich. Contact frame?
> Outdoors? (16 by 20 negs with borders taped on all sides would cost $3000
> a month rental for the space in this town, but you knew that.)
Dear Judy,
My ten acres in Wyoming wasn't cheap, but compared to Manhattan...... YES!
The two-hole punch I use is a common office supply item. It cleanly punches
two 1/4" diameter holes spaced about 2.75" apart. Both the film negative
and the print are punched independantly, prior to printing.
Bregman pins are available in varying heights. The pin (as supplied) is
spot welded onto a thin piece of stainless steel. Therefore the pins need
only be attached to the negative and print. Easy to handle, easy to work
with.
Sequence for registration: two Bregman pins are inserted through holes in
the print paper, from the backside. Negative is laid on top and pushed onto
the pins. Now the negative and print are attached to each other, in a
manner that is secure, and easily repeatable for subsequent printings.
My exposure unit is a homemade fluorescent UV tube light box - approximately
22 x 26" O.D. (a size that you could use even in a $2,500 per month
Manhattan studio apartment). The vacuum frame is also a homemade affair.
The sheet of polyester covering my vacuum frame is flexible and will flex to
accomodate the 'bumps' created by the Bregman pins.
As for heating the print, or moistening it (to achieve accurate
re-registration), I've always done this very slowly and carefully. Yes, it
is possible to ruin a print if the emulsion is 'overheated' or if the paper
is unevenly or excessively moistened. But the alternative (not doing it and
suffering from poor registration) is unacceptable (for me at least). One of
my goals with gum printing has been to capture detail as clearly as
possible. (Since I use a 4x5 view camera, I can't get away from that
mindset).
When I began gum printing, I re-registered negatives to prints by the
'center outwards' method, taping the two together when it looked right.
Compared to my current method, that was always more time consuming,
difficult, and yielded less satisfactory results (in terms of sharpness and
capture of fine detail).
Best regards,
Dave Rose
Powell, Wyoming
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