RE: gum redevelopment

Chris,

I've never found it possible to redevelop a print with water, hot or cold,
after it has dried. And believe me, I have tried.

On the other hand, I do occasionally use ammonia and Clorox to whack away at
the gum on a dry print. The results vary, as you can imagine.

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: Christina Z. Anderson [mailto:zphoto@uslink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 7:46 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: gum redevelopment

Hi all,
     List has been somewhat quiet as of late, and since I'm not worried
about editioning until I get as famous as Ansel Adams (aw gees, ya betcha as
Minnesotans say), I thought I'd broach a different subject.
     How 'bout a poll to all you gum printers out there:
     It is sometimes suggested that after a print has dried completely, and
even after some time, you can resoak and redevelop it, if needs be.
     Demachy said that the suggestion to do this is really a half truth, as,
for one, the shadows are more soluble than the highlights in this state,
etc. etc.
     My poll: how many of you use this technique? If so, are you using
warm water and/or an alkali like ammonia or bleach? And how long after the
print has been dried (e.g.1 day vs 2 weeks or whatever)? How often do you
use it/how good a suggestion do you consider it?
     I personally find the suggestion promises more than it delivers. It
wouldn't be my first suggestion of choice, which is why I am interested in
hearing from those of you having success with this troubleshooting method.
With ammonia (15ml to a liter of warm water on a month old print) it does
solubilize the gum, but not as effectively as I would hope.
Chris
Received on Wed Jul 7 21:00:33 2004