RE: Temperaprint & Gum

Hello,

> I also want to make phototempera prints, it appeals (theorically, I
> didn't yet make a single gum print; only few single coat tests) me much
> more than gum bichromate (to make color prints) because

I do have to agree. While I've seen several prints that could
probably only have been made with gum, as far as color images go, the
tempera made images are just superb in the color intensity they seem
capable of.

> 1) Gum is very expensive if you buy the "premium" versions and I
> couldn't find any "cheap" litographer grade gum in my area, also I think
> mixing my own gum from raw gum tears will not be as easy / convenient as
> using egg yolks.

Something funny. The "cheap" lithographers gum isn't all that cheap
unless there's a good market for it in your area. I found some places
I could buy it here and it was $18 for 250 ml. Where as B&S only charges
$8 something for 250ml. Even which shipping it's cheaper and their's
appears to be a much better quality jusdging from my simple visual
observations.

> 2) I also couldn't find suitable artist quality tube water color
> pigments in my area, only pans - absolutely no tubes - and they're very
> expensive (winsor-newton, daler-rowney). Messing with pans
> (dissolving/crushing) is boring. In the other hand, artist quality
> lightfast acrylic paint can be found very easily (brands like
> winsor-newton, daler-rowney, daniel smith).

I have similiar issues with the paint as with the gum. Price! I live
in an area where there's just enough of an artists community to market
products, there's just not enough to keep the prices tolerable. Windsor
and Newton paints are so ridiculously expensive that if they were to
rise in cost just a little bit, I'd have to choose between art or food..lol

> 3) I can find Yupo paper in my area (the idea of using a synthetic paper
> which doesn't need sizing and is dimensionally stable is nice) I didn't
> try it myself but as almost every article I read on gum mention that
> some tooth is needed to keep the gum emulsion on paper then I made a
> (perhaps wrong) conclusion that this paper cannot be used with gum!??!?
> (is it so?)

Ironically, the one thing I can't get locally is the Yupo. Well I can, but
they have a much larger minimum order (1000 sheets) than I need and the
price
is much higher than just ordering it direct. I can literally order 2500
sheets
of 8.5 X 11 for the same price including shipping!

I haven't tried gum on the stuff yet, so I'm not really sure if it would
work
or not. I'd imagine you could treat it with something (gelatin maybe) and
it would work. Actually, I would imagine treating the surface like it was
glass and following any recommendations for that would work well. Maybe
even diluted gesso?

I will say I love this yupo stuff and it would be worth the trouble to
find away to print other things on it. It saves so much time just in
drying. I haven't gotten to this stage yet, but I can just imagine how
fast you could make a tri-color image with this stuff once you got going.
Gould probably make a whole edition 100 in a few hours...lol

> So I ask to people that printed using either or both processes:
> Can you please make comments on above statements? Correct me if I made
> mistakes, contribute with your thoughts/impressions please. What is the
> disadvantages/advantages of each process? Can you compare these
> processes?

While, as you can tell from my previous message, I haven't been successful
(YET!) with the tempera process, I've been obsessing over it enough the
last few weeks to give these observations. Gum and Tempera are apples
and oranges. They both have their strengths and can be used to varying
effects. Many will try one and hate it and love the other one, some
may enjoy both. When I first became interested in alt. processes
it was gum that sparked it for me. After making hundreds I realized,
while gum is wonderful for other people's work, it just doesn't work as
well for mine. Well, not entirely true, as my soft abstract pinhole
images like great in a one or two coat gum.

Now, I also like making Pop Art (yeah, I know) and I just couldn't get
the color I need from gum (and I'm all silkscreened out from highschool
lol). On the other hand tempera is capable of utilizing such strong vivid
color that not only am I going to be using it for pop art, but for the first
time (in a long time) I've started to shoot and process color slides again.

Anyhow, at the risk of babbling on for too long, I think you need to match
the process with the content of your photo's and/or the outcome you're
attempting to achieve.

> Where I can find a book or article on how I can make
> phototempera prints?

Pete's website has the process fully laid out at:

http://www.books.i12.com/parlour/tempera.html

As well as many examples of his own fine artwork.

   -David-

PS: Be on the lookout for my new PhotoTempura process, combining Japanes
style Fried seafood with oil paint...haha alright that joke was lame... :)

*****
"I don't really trust ideas, especially good ones...."
                          -Robert Rauschenburg

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