From: Katharine Thayer (kthayer@pacifier.com)
Date: 07/25/03-07:26:00 AM Z
Perhaps some context and clarification may be in order. I can't speak
for what Stuart means when he says this, but my arguments on the matter
in the past have generally been in the context of Stephen Livick's
insistence that only a particular brand of watercolor paint, made in
France, "worked" for gum printing. Bostick and Sullivan found that they
were not able to import this particular brand into the United States,
and a whole bunch of would-be gum printers thought that if they couldn't
get this particular brand, it was all over as far as gum printing. This
of course is ridiculous, but all my arguments that many other brands
would work equally well fell on deaf ears at B&S at the time.
But Dave's right; my position needs to be qualified to refer to fine
artist-quality paint only. I certainly wouldn't recommend student lines
of any brand, for example, because they will contain fillers and gunk a
gum printer doesn't need. But within artist-quality lines, I don't find
that there are brands that "work" and brands that don't "work." Sure,
there are differences in pigment load across brands, and I tend to
prefer brands with a high pigment load, but someone using a different
brand that uses less pigment per tube can get the same effect by using
more pigment in the mix. As for pigments, it depends on what your
aesthetic goal is. True, there are some pigments that aren't as intense
as others, but that may be exactly what a particular gum printer needs.
It's just a matter of understanding the pigments and understanding what
your own goals are. There's a difference between saying something
doesn't "work" in general and saying something doesn't work for *me*,
for my own purposes.
kt
Dave Rose wrote:
>
> This really sounds like an overly simplified broad, sweeping generalization.
>
> How do you define "works"? If the mere presence of an image (no matter what
> the quality) is the sole gauge for success, then I'd have to agree,
> virtually any pigment will "work". If one's standards are considerably
> higher, then the differences from one manufacturer to another will dictate
> that one may be "workable" while another is "unworkable".
>
> Best regards,
> Dave Rose
> Big Wonderful Wyoming
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Sullivan" <richsul@earthlink.net>
> To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 8:50 AM
> Subject: Gum Pigments
>
> > One thing that Stuart said that goes counter to much popular opinion is
> > that any brand of pigment works. I found that interesting.
> >
> > --Dick Sullivan
> >
> >
> >
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