From: Steve Bell (veracity000@earthlink.net)
Date: 02/23/03-04:59:17 PM Z
Chris,
I guess i would consider myself a "gummist". i've done a fair amount of
prints thus far, and feel relatively comfortable, although i still run into
obstacles working through the process. i've run into some trouble with
colors that didn't work, but i can't say i've tested them with a clean,
untouched piece of paper. i mean, the times colors haven't worked has been
after a few passes, and they would flake off, which i feel was a fault of
my own somewhere along the line.
i use pot. di., and i think that's basically because i started with a kit,
and that's what was in it. i do have some am. di., and i plan on using it
soon for gum prints. i think it's wise to use every variation possible.
that way i know what kind of options i have.
regarding clearing agents, i've never used any. i mean, with my first
couple of prints i use metabi, but i saw absolutely no change in the print,
and i haven't seen any dichromate stain in any of them. so i haven't much
response to the clearing agent question.
regarding the GPR test, be careful, you may have just opened a huge can of
worms. haha.
cheers,
Steve
> [Original Message]
> From: Christina Z. Anderson <zphoto@montana.net>
> To: Alt Photo List <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
> Date: 2/23/2003 5:17:32 PM
> Subject: gum printing
>
> Hi List,
> My usual barrage of questions for the week--but hey, at least I post
my
> test results, too, huh?
>
> Gum questions:
> 1. Which colors absolutely do not work? I have these notes: hooker's
> green (washes out), emerald green, and any chromium based colors. I've
loved
> the quinacridones in the past...moonglow by D Smith seemed to wash out
quite
> a bit but could've mixed it up wrong. Do all whites work OK and has anyone
> tried a white on a dark paper?
> 2. Do you use am di or pot di? I learned on am di and am wondering if it
> is worth it to buy some pot di. Webb/Reed say only use am di if you can't
> get pot di. Hirsch says use am di. Go figure. I just want to know what
> you guys use, and I do have the notes from the past about am di being
lower
> contrast/muddier but then those saying that isn't the case. Does it boil
> down to what you are used to?
> 2a. If you diluted am di to the same percent as pot di would it be
> equivalent in speed?
> 3. What clearing agent do you use? I have come across sodium sulfite,
> sodium bisulfite/metabisulfite, potassium bisulfite, and sulfuric acid 1%
> solution. Does sodium sulfite truly do the trick so I don't have to
choke?
> the metabi literally gives me instant asthma.
> 4. Has anyone used lemon juice in the sensitizer to insolubilize it,
> decreasing exposure and giving better midtones? (Demachy, Photo-Aquatint,
> p. 39).
> 5. Dare I ask this, has Demachy's stain test been hashed out on this list
> already or is it worth mentioning? His book is from 1898, before Paul
> Anderson's 1911. Is it possible to talk this out civilly? If he has not
> been discussed, I can sum up his test and post it. Considering I've only
> been on the list 3 yr or so, you all could have been around this block
> before.
> 6. How many gummists are there? I know Judy, Dave, Katherine, Joe, but
who
> else isn't speaking up? Even part-timers?
> BTW, why I keep asking questions is I am in the starts of developing
a
> "user friendly" alt course as to how I would teach it if given the chance.
> I did it with experimental. Now I want to with alt. I've figured out I
> would "hook" the students first by doing easy enlarged negs (paper,
> imagesetter, ink jet), start them out with instant gratification cyanos,
> argyros, (then vdb, kalli, salt) to really get them hooked, then get into
> easy one coat gum with spray starch or acrylic sizing, then teach such
> things as better enlarged negs, better sizing, etc. afterward, before
> progressing into the more expensive platinum/palladium/zia. The biggest
> whines I hear is "it's so time consuming, I can't stand gelatin dripping
all
> over, I don't have any good large negs, etc." Kinda like the view
> camera--forget the zone stuff in the beginning, get them out there fooling
> around with the camera til they get seduced by the large neg and camera
> movements, and then go thru the complex stuff. They have to know "what's
in
> it for them" first. My philosophy for the day (of course, 10 processes in
> one semester is probably total overload).
> Chris
>
--- Steve Bell
--- Veracity000@earthlink.net
--- "We have...become our own thought police; but instead of calling the
process by which we limit our own expression of
dissent and wonder 'censorship', we call it 'concern for commercial
viability'." -David Mamet
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