Re: Gum hardening: top down experiment

I don't know if anyone was planning to try this with Pictorico, but
just in case, let me report that I just used my last piece of
Pictorico for a quick experiment and I wouldn't recommend it, for
several reasons:

(1) Pictorico goes sticky when it gets wet, so it's very difficult to
smooth out the coating; the sticky coating on the Pictorico hangs
onto the gum the way it was laid down with the first stroke of the
brush, and that's how it stays. You just can't move the gum around on
the surface.

(2) the coating on the Pictorico hangs onto the dichromate, as some
paper/sizing combinations do, and the Pictorico will take on a bright
yellow cast that will have to be removed with metabisulfite.

(3) you can't dry it with a hair dryer. This may not be a problem for
those who don't usually use a hair dryer, but that's how I always dry
my gum layer, and the heat turns the Pictorico white. This cleared to
clear after a while, on the first drying, but on the second drying
(after treating with metabisulfite and rinsing in water again) I
found that the white didn't go away in some places.

Other than those few things, it really makes a great image.
Katharine
Received on Wed Apr 12 18:05:23 2006