Re: need advice on gum coating

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
>
> Judy, I must revisit the foam applicator...I found it abraded the
> paper, aside from the fact that it put my teeth on edge with its noise and
> "drag". But after your description, below, I think I'll give it another go.

Which foam applicators are you using? As a rule (at least around here)
the ones with the wood handles have a softer finer foam & they work
wonderfully. The ones with the red plastic handles have a stiffer coarser
foam & they're vile. I never noticed noise and "drag", but I could believe
it, tho that could also be from other causes...

For instance, do you dampen the applicator before dipping into the
emulsion? Put a dropperful of distilled water on it and squeeze in & out
a bit until the pad is damp but not wet -- damp means it won't soak up too
much emulsion, and is sort of pre-softened but if it's *wet* it will
dilute the emulsion too much.

But even with that nasty with the red handle -- I'd GUESS that if you're
abrading the paper you're pressing too hard and also don't have enough
liguid in it (though it's hard, doesn't take as much liquid as the softer
foam)..... Anyway, when you're not trying to get a smooth even coat with
that first wetting of the paper, you can relax and let the emulsion
flow...

Ideally, you get a happy medium -- that is, put on enough emulsion so it
flows evenly but not so much that you need three dry hake brushes one
after the other to get off the excess... Sometimes for a big print I need
two... which is already a pain, because it's got to be washed out right
away or it hardens on the bristles in the air... If you can arrange to
have a flunky on hand to wash all that stuff up, would be a big help...

Of course the amount of emulsion the paper takes varies greatly from paper
to paper -- a smooth paper with gelatin size takes less emulsion than a
rougher paper, especially unsized... etc.

PS. If your coat "spreads out evenly without touching," as you describe,
that's WAY too much emulsion for this approach. Unless it's "burnished"
afterwards with the hake brush, that flow will settle into the pores of
the paper like little wells, which will make a differential in exposure
& development. That is, generally speaking, and all other things being
equal, it will accentuate the texture of the paper, which can have an
unattractive machine-made look -- or so I found with the paper I did that
on.

Judy

> As one "old book" says, if the coating streaks, it is either too thick
> or too thin--the latter, when if follows the brush in "waves", the former
> when it stands in ridges. When my coat goes on even it initially streaks
> and then spreads out evenly without touching. Otherwise I must coax it
> along as in the flick flick technique described below.
> Chris
Received on Mon Feb 16 00:48:33 2004