Re: direct gum print

Very impressive looking print. Thank you for putting it on your web
site so we could all see it.

Sandy

>Katharine,
>Thanks for such a fast action.
>Marek
>
>>From: Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>
>>Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>>To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>>Subject: Re: Gum hardening: top down experiment good image
>>Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:27:58 -0700
>>
>>Here's Marek's print (it's awesome)
>>
>>http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/Marek.html
>>
>>Enjoy.
>>kt
>>
>>
>>On Apr 13, 2006, at 7:32 AM, Katharine Thayer wrote:
>>
>>>I'd be happy to add this to my website, Marek, just send it to me
>>>as a jpeg and (now that I have a better mail program than when I
>>>tried to do this with Chris) I can just take it and upload it.
>>>Katharine
>>>
>>>
>>>On Apr 13, 2006, at 7:06 AM, Marek Matusz wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>It took me two day to sort thing out a bit. I have repeated the
>>>>experiments with the HP transparency coated on the emulsion side
>>>>with the thick gum mixture. I tried exposure form the back from
>>>>about 5 to 30 minuts and every time the result was the same. I
>>>>could see the image developing, I would take it out of water and
>>>>literally see it melting in front of me. Even lying flat. It
>>>>looked like gelatine meting, kind of losing shape, becoming
>>>>softer and ending up with a puddle of pigmented gum (remember
>>>>the Indiana Jones movie?). After removing all the gum from the
>>>>transparency I noticed a very nice tan image embeded in the
>>>>transparency coating. Kind of like a very thin of pyro stain.
>>>>All the details vere there if you held it to the ligh just so.
>>>>So something was happening with htis transparency coating that
>>>>was messing up with my experiments.
>>>>
>>>>Next logical thing was to put the gum on the uncoated side. I
>>>>coated a couple sheets, exposed through the back They all
>>>>developed by dissolving the unhardened gum from the top,
>>>>revealing a continuous tome image beneath. The image was rather
>>>>robust, with no tendency to flake, slide off or anything. Did I
>>>>mention that on some of the sheets I removed the coating by
>>>>soaking in chlorox and scrubbing with a brush.
>>>>
>>>>It is so amazing how easy it was to make a good image. My coating
>>>>was very heavily pigmented and thick. I could barely see through
>>>>it looking directly into a 50W light bulb.
>>>>Same coating exposed from the front simply flaked away. Same
>>>>emulsion coated on paper and exposed in the usual way for 15
>>>>minutes mosty flaked off with a very contrasty result that did
>>>>not resemble the original image to a great extent.
>>>>
>>>>I am really excited about making prints on glass and perhaps
>>>>transfer to paper.
>>>>I do not have a web page, but I scanned the transpareny in my
>>>>flat bed scanner (not in the transparency mode, it is just a
>>>>reflective scanner). Katharine maybe you can add it to you page
>>>>or somebody else. I could put it on one of the free web site,
>>>>but I will not have time to mess with it until the weekend.
>>>>
>>>>All this most likely does not relate to regular practice of gum
>>>>printing wityh very thin layers, where I think enough light is
>>>>passed through to harden the entire layer (pehaps a crosslinking
>>>>is a better term) and then during the development phase wash away
>>>>the gum and pigment in proportion to the crosslinking. Paper does
>>>>interact as well and I see it soaking dichromate from the gum
>>>>solution on the first coat, just like a lot of people have
>>>>observed. Oddly enough this does not happen on subsequent coats
>>>>if you do multicoat gums.
>>>>
>>>>Experimentation rules
>>>>Marek, Houston
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>From: Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>
>>>>>Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>>>>>To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>>>>>Subject: Re: Gum hardening: top down experiment
>>>>>Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:05:21 -0700
>>>>>
>>>>>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 Thu Apr 13 12:05:38 2006