I was also using paper negatives for this process, with a much shorter tonal scale potential than a film or digital negative. Anyone having printed from paper negatives know the amount of light needed for printing is only very slightly different than said film negative. I also did not wax my negatives or manipulate them a la Robert Demachy, although in the age of digital manipulation of every stripe, mechanical manipulation of a negative shouldn't shake up any sensibilities.
What this print also shows are the brush marks left from coating the paper using slightly less gum that optimal. The gum tends to dry as it is applied and the thinner the layer applied the faster the drying. By the time one area has been coated, bringing up fresher gum to bring it all together tends to leave dark/light streaking, the difference between the dryer & wetter gum being 'stretched'. I now mix slightly more than is needed, spreading with a larger brush, more quickly and evenly, ridding the streaking and clumping.
Unfortunately, at that time I didn't keep notes on the gum process as I was learning it, or anything on printing procedures on any print. That leaves me to speculate on the more exact handling of things. I do know the color print order because I was following what I thought to be the only correct way of printing. What I remember of it is that I used roughly equal mixes of each color, not emphasizing one over the other. Being most color blind in red/green there is likely much I am missing in the image. What I can see of things in the trees is the detail and brighter earth tones than the ground area. Also note the piece of the lawn chair in the left of the frame, showing pretty realistic representation.
The second thing I wasn't yet aware of was the printing to light, as I am now. The white sweater the number one son is wearing is just beginning to show any detail, represented by zone 7. Much of the sweater remains in the zone 8 tonal range; blank white. He was also wearing his trademark black trousers, which for me was pretty perfect for what I was doing, working in black and white.
It is also important to keep in mind that the amount of pigment used in these gum prints is minuscule. I use a one ounce clear plastic pill dispenser to mix my gum & pigments, a second one to hold the dichromate. I use the wooden or plastic tip of an artist's brush, to "touch" the watercolor pigment in a tube. Touch. Very small bit at the end. That is mixed into 1 1/2- 2 milliliters of gum, or two to three full eyedropper draws of the gum. Two full eyedropper draws is sufficient to just cover an 8x10 print size, I use three draws for any first coat to the paper being it takes a bit more to cover the paper on the first layer, much like painting raw wood. It absorbs material.
I am almost certain the sizing for this print on Canson paper was a single coat of 2 1/2% gelatin. That would also explain the sinking into the paper of the image, and some of the streaking, as when absorbed it the fibers more it dries that much quicker. I am unable to say what the print time was being I depended upon sunlight and an old GE light meter as a guide. I do know I used north light, not direct sunlight.
Gum Dichromate Print #1
"Son in backyard" ~ 1984 ~ 5x7 ~ Unique
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