RE: Gum hardening: top down experiment

On Tue, 11 Apr 2006, Sandy King wrote:

> For the
> sake of this discussion I am going to assume that you will print on some type
> of OHP material or other plastic that will hold the gum. What you do with the
> print after that, whether leave it on the plastic or transfer to a paper
> base, is a discussion for another day.

Sandy,

For the sake of this discussion, I am going to assume we all agree it is
inane and irrelevant, although presumably innocuous & may even spin off
useful information. However, I feel impelled to point out that -- in the
words of the immortal Steven Livick -- EVERY variable affects a gum print,
even if you changed your underwear that day or which foot you're standing
on (tho I forget his exact words).

Which is to say, I would say a print on plastic is a different medium, an
OHP-o-Graph, perhaps. If it proves to be hardened from top or bottom,
very interesting, but I print on paper, and much of what I've read
(including the sainted, notorious, blessed/evil Mike Ware) AND my own
experience shows the paper to be an active part of the process.

The dichromate (with or without gum) DOES sink into the fibers of the
paper. But does it just lie there like a lotke (it's Passover, folks, if I
could spell lotke confidently I'd tell you more), or is it part of the
action? My impression is that it's active, and I point out that IME each
paper performs differently. I suspect more than just sizes are different,
but the fact that different papers need different sizes is also a clue.

J.
Received on Wed Apr 12 15:02:13 2006