Gum Woes II

Rats! Just when I think I might have, sort of, gotten started, maybe
a little bit, printing in gum bichromate, two new problems arise.

I've gotten a single layer gum bromide to work tolerably well. I
decided that it was time to take the next step. I wanted to add
another color.

My first layer was a coat of 3ml gum + 1 ml am. di. soln. + 1cm
worm of pigment mixture. I dried it, exposed it to skylight for a few
minutes, and then "developed it." Looks fine. There was no picture
-- this was just a color wash. Dumb way to do that, but too late :-{o

First Problem
   For the second layer I chose a black pigment (about half the
usual), but otherwise using the old formula (James'). When
applying the gum, tiny (bubbles?) appeared on the trailing side of
the brush, leaving little spots of exposed color behind. No amount
of brushing would suffice to close the holes and make them stay
closed. There aren't too many of them, but ... What's going on
here?

Second Problem
   The second layer flakes (is that the term?); ie, little spots (more
than were visible during coating) fall off in the wash, ruining the
image. The specks never dissolve. What's going on with that?

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong here? Should I dampen the print
before applying the second sensitized coating?

Regards,
Gary Nored
http://home.centurytel.net/Gary_Nored/
Received on Sun Nov 2 16:12:08 2003