Re: Magnani Pescia et al.. for gumprinting

Judy Seigel wrote:
>
 Rives BFK
> was for YEARS the no-fail paper we started all students on. Lately these
> pages ring with its faults... I assume it, too, has changed.
>

Judy,
Your point about paper changing over time is well taken, and my remarks
about Pescia refer to older paper.

But as for the BFK -- I don't know how far back you're talking about BFK
being considered a no-fail paper, but 15-17 years ago when I was
experimenting with a lot of different papers, BFK was the only paper
that wouldn't reliably clear for me when printed unsized. But on the
other hand, as recently as June 16, 2003 (it was pure serendipity that I
came across this post this morning as I was looking through my
alternative photo mail folders for anything I want to keep, in
preparations for shutting down my old system) Chris liked BFK well
enough to recommend it to a beginning printer who was having difficulty
making a successful gum print. Whether Chris has found that the paper
has changed since 2003, or whether it's something about Chris's practice
or standards that makes her now say that BFK "sucks" is a question Chris
would have to answer for herself. But I'd guess from comments made here
that a significant number of other gum printers are using today's BFK
quite successfully. In a recent experiment of my own, I found that BFK
printed quite well with one coat of size, hardened with glyoxal, but
this piece of BFK was purchased a while back.

I've been trying to imagine what famous gum printer might have said that
BFK is "unsuitable" for gum printing; my suspicions led me to Stephen
Livick's manual, dated 2000, which states, "Although one of the most
recommended papers for gum printing, DO NOT USE RIVES BFK watercolor
paper [emphasis in original], it is too soft and does not hold up well
in the water." This statement does not correspond with my own
observations. I can't claim a huge amount of experience with the paper,
but when I have printed on it, I have found its wet strength and
integrity similar to other common gum printing papers.
Katharine
Received on Tue Oct 25 10:35:08 2005