Gum -- Drying temperature

I was trying out suggestions from this list today. I increased the
dichromate:gum/pigment ratio to 1:1 and then hung the paper in
my new drying closet (dehumidifier in a broom closet), and forgot
about it for an hour or maybe two. The broom closet got very warm
and the paper was bone dry when I got to it. But it would hardly
produce an image at all, at any exposure!

Sooo, went back, and made another sheet at the same ratio, but
with slightly more pigment. Again, not thinking clearly enough to
realize that I was adding another variable here, I put the sheet in
the closet to dry. This time, I turned the machine down (so the
room was cooler) and I took the paper out faster.

VIOLA! Best print I ever got. Amazingly sharp, not grainy at all,
wider dynamic range than I've ever seen. A little staining, but the
paper was somewhat sloppily sized, which I've discovered is a no-
no.

So now I wonder--how important are the DRYING conditions to gum
bichromate printing? How important is temperature? Time-to-dry?
Time between drying and exposure?

Sorry if I'm hogging the list. I check the archives before asking
these questions, but the search function is so rudimentary that I
often give out after reading the first 10 or 20 thousand messages :-)

Regards,
Gary Nored
http://home.centurytel.net/Gary_Nored/
Received on Wed Nov 5 17:46:05 2003