Gum Print ~ Putting It All Together

As can be seen in the progression of prints I made in gum, thirty years ago, what can be seen are the variables affecting the print image in some way. One of those elements being learned was print/float time. Of all the variables the printer has at their disposal, these two variables most directly control the process outcome. The earlier gum prints were mostly four color printing runs, not necessarily in the same print order, as that was one of the variables I was working on at the time.

This gum print was the last I made during that printing period. It was the culmination of all I had learned from the preceding prints. I had begun to more fully grasp the importance of print/float time, as well as the use of shear, translucent pigments. By the time I had reached this level of printing I also had begun using a heavier and better grade of paper, moving to a 140lb hot press watercolor paper. It was also this print that altered my thinking about print editions, and gum printing.

This print hangs on my wall, marked 3/5, showing an earlier sense of editions, and gum prints. It was the last of that arrangement as well. Now, all gum prints are unique. This print was also the most complex print I had ever attempted, consisting of thirteen color print layers. The task for that image, at the time, as working to attain some textural detail in the foliage and end up with something of a blue sky. The image was shot just before sunset, when the sky was overcast. This was Oregon's Willamette Valley, and wintertime brings gray skies as a daily affair. The final color layer was a yellow ochre, mixed very, very shear, and applied as thin a coat as was possible. What I had wanted to do was capture the light of the scene, the 'golden glow' of the late afternoon. That meant printing just to that level of light then only floating away the top tonality, leaving a thin layer of golden color. Theoretically.

Gum Dichromate ~ 13 color layers
"The Quiet Pond" ~ 5x7