Re: Shopping for a hardener

On Jan 19, 2006, at 6:15 AM, Marek Matusz wrote:

> Charles,
> I have been using dichromate (reduced to chromium III by light and
> dark reaction) with very good results to harden gelatin. No
> volatile chemical involed and you already have dichromates if you
> are playing with gum.

Another suggestion: gelatin mixed with gesso also makes a very nice
size. It's really my favorite size, as I said the other day. And (to
anticipate the usual objection) no, the size isn't gritty, even
though gesso used by itself is gritty.

People are always wanting to dictate the "best" size, the "best" gum,
the "best" whatever, on this list; it's a chimera and IMO a waste of
time. When I came on the list, some folks were distressed about
the fact that I wasn't using what their tests showed to be the
"best" gum, even though the gum I was using was giving me excellent
results. (And when later I actually tried the recommended gum, I
found its results infererior to those of my own).

  It's clear from the history and present state of gum printing that
every master gum printer has had a different approach to sizing. I
started out sizing, then when I realized I didn't need to, didn't
size for years, and now I'm sizing again since I like Arches bright
white and that paper is a victim of the inconsistencies in internal
sizing that have plagued Arches papers for the last few years. But
any size I've tried on the Arches has worked fine, and I personally
don't think gum is so sensitive that it really matters what size you
use; it's not necessary to apply the fine standards for gum that
Ryuji uses for his own work. I think you'll find that almost any
kind of size you can name is used very effectively by some master gum
printer.

Also, a charge was made the other day that I had used glutaraldehyde
irresponsibly even though I had been specifically warned that it
would be dangerous to start with a glut stock solution as high as
8%. To my knowledge, the warnings about it being dangerous started
after my experience, not before. It's always possible that I missed
a post, since I don't always read everything that comes across the
list, but I certainly wasn't knowingly operating against warnings.
And at the time I ordered the stuff, I put out a call on the list for
sources and recommendations; if there were a time for warnings, that
would have been it, and none were forthcoming, that I saw anyway. I
didn't realize at the time, even, that Chris had got her working
solution from Ryuji rather than making it herself from a purchased
stock solution.

Katharine

Katharine

> Marek, Houston
>
>
>
>> From: ryberg <cryberg@comcast.net>
>> Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>> Subject: Re: Shopping for a hardener
>> Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:29:46 -0800
>>
>> OK, if by Sigma you mean Sigma-Aldrich, their search engine give
>> no results
>> for either Bisepoxides or epox which you mentioned last Auguest.
>> A google
>> search on epox gives me a lot of motherboard hits and a lot of epoxy
>> hits--nothing else.
>> If there is a reason you can't be more specific--non-disclosure
>> statements, professional ethics, whatever--could you say so? At
>> this rate
>> I'm never going to be able to do multi color gum since I can't use
>> any of
>> the standard hardners.
>> Charles Portland OR.
>>
>>
>
>
>
Received on Thu Jan 19 12:45:28 2006