Re: need advice on gum coating

With gum it's nearly impossible to get a perfectly even coating. Your
sample (unexposed coated paper) does not look so bad. How do your exposed
and developed prints look?

I've printed plenty of gum (with variations in coating as in your sample)
with great results in the final print. Even if there are slight variations
in the printed image, those tend to be hidden or diminished under subsequent
coatings and re-exposures. Some of those slight variations and a bit of
serendipity can yield truly beautiful results.

I use 3" wide Hake brushes to coat my paper. I quickly lay on the emulsion
thick and wet, using up/down strokes followed by side to side strokes to
even it out. I rarely if ever get an "even coating". But it doesn't
matter, as the end result is usually excellent. Don't get me wrong, I've
had my share of failures. Overall, gum is a demanding but trouble-free
process. I've never experimented with ox gall, photo flo, or alcohol
because I've never needed to.

Best regards,
Dave Rose
Big Wonderful Wyoming
Alt-Photo gallery:
http://www.alternativephotography.com/dave_rose.html
My '62 Willys Pickup:
http://mvpimages.net/cgi-bin/willys/wtregistryview.cgi?action=view&id=224

> I've read most of the modern books on gum and several of the old
ones.
> I can't get any where near an even coating--I get brush marks and uneven
> spots. I've tried four different brands of gum, four different brands of
> watercolor with each. I've added photo flo. I've added ox gall.
> I used to be a pretty good woodworker but I had the same problem with
> varnish. In the end, I solved that problem by using oil finishes
> exclusively.
> Anyway, you can see a sample of my paper after coating but before
> exposure at
> http://home.comcast.net/~cryberg/index.html. Yes, I see the hair at the
> top. Is this coating really as uneven as it seems to me? Is there enough
> (too much?) pigment?
> Thanks Charles Portland Or
>
>
Received on Sat Feb 14 20:30:51 2004