Re: A PVA for printing "gum" : a practical approach

Terry said:

>>I started with a heavier gum and found that the printers' 14 gum was too
>>thin
for me. I tried a gallon of the printers' 14 but passed it on to someone
else
  even before I discovered Gloy all those years ago. I prefer the 17 but
that does not make the 14 wrong.

>>The result is that when I mix up PVA and glycerine for my gum prints I aim
>>to
achieve the same consistency as that of Gloy or the gum I preferred, but
that
is my choice.

Hmmm....Terry, I must be missing something so I'll appear really stupid and
ask it anyway: is there anything wrong with plopping in some gum arabic
powder into the "too thin" gallon of gum arabic to make it thicker? And then
when that gallon is used up, just start mixing your own from scratch anyway?
I'm never one to waste a gallon of that stuff...

I always do that because I agree that most commercial gums are a bit thin.
I usually mix a batch of gum arabic at 1+1 or 1+2 and use a dash of the
thicker stuff in the mix if I'm using up a bottle of commercial.

All the hoopla about gum being hard to mix up, or needing a certain baume,
in my practice, is a waste of time, literally. I whip it up in a blender
and use it immediately, kitchen measurements. I figured if all the oldies
did the 2 in 5 or 2 in 4 there must have been something to it.

But, whatever floats your boat-er-baume meter.

But there's nothing better than having 15 students in a semester prove your
method right, and if there's anything missing from your method, they'll sure
find it :)

Speaking of which, 15 students have successfully hardened with
glutaraldehyde, successfully made tricolor gums with very saturated colors,
with nary a stain.

Their biggest problem, IMHO, is learning how to "Zen" it....not to rush, not
to opt automatically for the hair dryer, the spray bottle, the brush...next
time I will NOT teach the shortcuts right away. I had a number of them hair
drying the layers immediately before and after development so they could do
a tricolor gum print in a couple hours! I mean, that's fine and dandy in
their own home, but in a squunched alt process lab with 15 students vying
for space, hair dryers going all the time...where's the pleasure? Oh how I
digress, obviously this is fresh in my mind...
Chris
Received on Thu Mar 30 07:53:24 2006