talking about problems

     This week I've been cleaning out my gumroom, going through all my work,
printing an extra layer on top of old gums, doing a little scratching here
and there, a general reevaluation and revisit. It has been really
instructive to go over old work. One of the things I realized is that, if
it had not been for this list, the obvious cause of two problems would not
have occurred to me.

The one was Hans and Chia's problem of negatives printing larger in one
channel. It did not occur to me that this might happen. Lo and behold,
checking on the two sets of negatives with which I have had a problem with
registration, and I ASSUMED it was the paper that miraculously stretched
midstream, both sets have a negative that is stretched. One is crooked and
stretched, with the borders not straight. The other is just fully 1/8 inch
larger lengthwise.

Not that it is the same channel; in my case, it was a negative that was
loaded wrong in the printer and stretched in the printing process. Now I
know to always check my negs before printing to make sure the sizes and
registration match. Thanks, Hans and Chia, for taking the time to post a
problem.

The other problem that cropped up occasionally was an uneven cyanotype coat.
It would bleed more in one border and be paler. I thought it was my coating
technique that was the problem. Nope. Someone--and I can't remember who, so
thanks to whomever it was-- posted that if you shove the contact printing
frame too close to one edge under your UV lights, uneven exposure would
occur. Bingo. I have not had a problem with one edge not printing as
deeply since I have been careful, now, to center the frame under the UV box,
only a problem really when using the 11x14 UV box and an 11x14 frame, and
having a full sized print--which is why it cropped up only occasionally.

I just love this list. It's been pretty darn quiet of late, tho.

One more problem: a while ago I asked if a gum layer will budge with a
redevelopment after the fact. I have now taken some gums from last semester
and resoaked, and sure enough, with a very long soak you can get the layer
to budge. Especially with a spray water bottle and completely with a Jack
Brubaker memorial Scotch Brite pad. Usually it is the last layer that
budges the most with a spray, and an undercoating of cyanotype never budges
unless you remove the paper. Thought this may help those of you who think a
print is beyond repair. This, btw, is with gum printed on sized paper, so
sizing may make a difference.
Chris
Received on Fri Oct 29 07:25:30 2004