I hope this question will not sound too trivial to all you consummate Gummers,
but I'm still not clear as to the technique of multiple coating. That is, I can
do multiple coating, and have no problem with registration (well, almost no
problem :-), but I'm not sure about the strength of the various coatings and the
exposures.
So I'd like to hear from the more experienced multiple-coaters what their
favourite approach is:
a) do you use different pigment strength for different coatings, what order
are they in, and how long do you expose them (relative to the exposure for
the first coating)
b) do you know from the beginning you're going to do multiple printing, or do
you assess whether it is needed after the first printing? What I'm looking
for is: do you print the first coat as if you were trying to do the print
in one coat, or do you use different strength/exposure combination than for
a single coating?
One thing I've noticed is that, in prints where some highlight details did not
record at all after the first coating (i.e. all the pigment was washed away),
they were much improved after the second coating, even for the same strength and
exposure length. Now, this is strange if you look at it in terms of additive
overlapping of coats: you'd imagine that nothing+nothing=nothing! My *guess* is
that, though the pigment is washed away, something is left behind (traces of
hardened gum?) that works as a "primer" and helps the second layer record
better. Please feel free to shoot this theory down.
But here I fly off the handle: if this theory were true, does it mean that a
preliminary pigmentless sensitised and exposed gum "primer" coat would improve
single-coated prints?
I guess I should try it, but I'm darkroom-less at the moment....
Thanks in advance for all feedback.
Olivo