Re: Choosing the best gum to pigment ratio.

Paul,
What you ask you will only find out by experience. Each pigment is
differently saturated, and each brand also.

To make things easy, mix a 14/15ml tube of watercolor pigment into 45 ml gum
arabic. Use this as a "stock" solution and at time of use, cut it in half
with gum arabic so that your formula is such:
1 stock: 1 gum: 2 dichromate (I use half strength am di, or 1:water:1 am
di).

You will find with some pigments this is a bit too strong, some a bit too
weak, so then you vary the ratio of stock to plain gum. Forget measuring
peas and worms and grams. Some just squish a little pigment into their gum,
mix it, and see what it looks like brushed out on paper. I prefer to have a
measurable stock that I can always go back to and know exact proportions.

Save yourself a lot of effort and order, let's say, the Winsor Yellow, blue,
and red, or the Maimeri primary yellow, blue, and red, etc. And then a
couple earth tones, brown and black. That should be plenty. Then with some
ammonium dichromate, some gum arabic, a hake brush and SIZED paper you will
have all you need.
chris

----- Original Message -----
From: "paul gega" <pawel_gega@o2.pl>
To: "altphoto" <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 7:07 AM
Subject: Choosing the best gum to pigment ratio.

> hello
>
> After reading about pigment's attributes at handprint.com
> ( http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html ) i'm totally confused now!
> when i know such on the pigment's attributes i'm asking what is a base
> idea
> in choosing pigment-gum ratio - which of those attributes are most
> important
> in preparing gum solution for achiving the widest and most regular tone
> scale ,in print maded of two , three different pigments, where each of the
> pigments has also different tonal value and opacity, and how to choose the
> ratio with the best effects. Is there any pigment-gum ratio that could be
> named as ideal? - considering of course for particular pigments.
>
> ..by the way I know that is a metaphysical question ;)
>
> best,
> Paul
>
Received on Mon Feb 13 08:56:18 2006