From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 07/26/03-10:01:26 AM Z
On Fri, 25 Jul 2003, Katharine Thayer wrote:
> Richard Sullivan wrote:
> >
> > 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
>
> In fact, the only person I know of who teaches that precious nonsense
> about brand being all-important is Stephen Livick.
I cannot believe that after only two days of absenteeism I found something
like 165 new messages from the list -- and am now only at about the
hundred mark.... Of course it's unwise to reply before reading all, but
clearly some points (about gum anyway) don't seem to sink in no matter how
often you make them...
Although I heartily agree with Katharine's comments of Wednesday ("the
fact is that detailed gum prints with clarity and > gradation are NOT
rarely seen in gum, and to say so tends to stick in> the craw of gum
printers who have been making such prints for years,") & expect to add
some comment at the 165 mark, on the matter of paint brands I think a
footnote is in order now.
Having taught gum for many years to undergraduates who WILL buy whatever
paints are cheap, or have a nice box, or a suggestive name, or somebody
once used, or whatever wherever they happen to find them (the Netherlands,
Korea, South Carolina), I can attest that there are brands that do not not
not NOT work.... Generally these are not the major international brands
(Winsor Newton, Rowney, etc., and now Daniel Smith) tho there are
certainly differences in the way even major brands work, my prime example
being the VERY weak pigment density in a Rowney quinacridone red by some
other name). But offbrands tend to have additives (I suspect dispersal
agents) that make gum printing not work, and there are (usually by price)
differences in amount of actual pigment vs. fillers.
Tho there is the Niji brand -- very small tubes made in Japan that sell
very cheap (about $4 for 18 colors in the school store). For whatever
reason, although print makers say they're terrible, they're great for gum
-- coat & clear beautifully. They are NOT an economy, because they're
weak, and many of the colors are not usable or effective for gum.... But
they let the student start with a full palette for less than the cost of
one 15 ml tube of a major brand. And since the free use of color is one of
the joys & gifts of gum, I think on balance they're a real plus for
beginners. No list of "approved" colors, which can be very limiting.
Though I guess I should add that it's a few years since I used them, so
maybe they have (like everything else) changed in the interim.
Judy
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