"Building Storm" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

 It has been some time since my last post, with a number of things getting in between my desire to get to my darkroom, and the reality at hand. Reality won out. I was able to put the final layers of color on the print I've been working on. A photo taken from the dinner table at Eladios Restaurant in Progresso, Yucatan, Mexico. Highly recommended restaurant. The larger section of the main dining area is a Pallapa style design, with viewing all around. This restaurant sits right next to the Malacón, with early evening activities, observable from the tables. This particular late afternoon, a squall was building in the distance, off shore. The wind was up, yet the activity along the Malacón was unaffected, casual as usual in that town.

This print was amazingly complex to make. I wanted soft colors representing the image, not bright, brilliant colors normally seen in many Mexican towns. What caught my eye was the color of the sky, warm toned, slightly ominous, and the activity on the Malecón, with pastel colors, light up from stray sunshine. This was a turn in your chair, frame and snap, image. Not tripod setup, calculated exposures and timeless waiting for the exact right moment. Sometimes it just works out all of its own.

This image derives from the Progresso Portfolio, of palladium prints. This image was meant for gum printing, to achieve the mood of that moment This gum was an eleven print layer print. One of the reasons it took so long to complete. I spent much time analysing the image, working out the color to be used, and in which order they would be printed, how shear to make them, and all the other considerations made during the gum printing process. My biggest consideration is getting the colors right, being I'm all but color blind to red/green, which makes printing colors a bit dicey for me. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome. The original is a bit richer than the digital copy. A casualty of copying the print with a 20 year old digital camera.

Gum Dichromate Print ~ Unique

“Building Storm” ~ 11”x14”

Progresso, Yucatan, Mexico

 

Completing the Print

 This past year, my printing efforts have been run over by home demands and a pandemic. Not that I have been idle altogether. A good portion of my efforts over the past weeks have been focused on the printing itself. I began making gum prints in 1982. I've had a process that worked well for me. A really good process is like a really bad habit. You don't want to give it up. The weeks of testing had to do with finding a printing paper that fit my needs, now. I now use two papers; one for 8x10 gums and another for 11x14 gums. Both do well with multiple soakings without a lot of curling and warping. Turns out, Hahnemuhle Platinum and Fabriano Artistico are the two choices, respectively.

With the paper comes the sizing needs, for the look I am after. There is a delicate balance between having the image remain on the surface sufficiently to show textural detail, and, an image that falls into the paper, fading, without strong edges. That took a couple weeks, testing variations upon the theme. Turns out, the setting I was looking for was for two, one-minute soakings, in a bath of 2 1/2% gelatin sizing. That, after three pre-shrinking dips of a minute or so, at 110º-115ºF, before hanging up to dry, or lay in a drying tray.Altogether that totals to five days of paper preparation before being ready to print. Dedication.

There is a print I am currently working on. An 11x14 gum print "Native Dancers", Arizona tribes dancing at a Pow Wow. This one a second print of the three I have in this series. The first print of the native dancers was a gum over palladium print. The gum print is more complex and trickier to print, than the gum over palladium.

"The Blue Goose" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

 I have  posted this image already. An earlier print I made of this train. I didn't like it. I just knew it wasn't what I had set out to do. That doesn't sit well, over time. This print was made from a modified digital negative, shortening the density range slightly, with the sky with the highest densities, much of which were clouds. Clouds tend to be white, but not blank white. This much improved the image.

The second change to this print was the order and selection of colors used. I reversed the order of the printing; from KCYMC to CYMKC. I know, seems senseless, however, it does make a difference, slight as it may be. There are also infinite iterations on the gum mixtures as well. How much of each color to use on each layer, alters the cumulative stack of color(s) The idea is to use the colors to enhance one or more of the color combinations for a particular tonal range of the image, as that also affects the print time. Printing is done to a tonality or tonal range, as it a bright sky or area of near white, or a pare of bluejeans in shade. The print time for a zone three shadow or darker color, is less than printing for the highlights; zone 7. Doesn't matter the color. Print time is predicated on the zone you are printing to.

This print was of nine print layers, using as many colors, some applied locally, as in the sky, and the tree, the train engine, and the passenger cars. The focus of the print image was the train engine, out front and center. The sky as well as the foreground are softer than the engine, bringing the engine out even more, visually. Well, that is my interpretation of the image as I perceived it. That is all the printer can do. Make it their own and accept the repercussions.

CYMK printing tends to show a longer tonal range of color, with deeper blacks and shadows, compared to RGB printing, which tends to look more like 50's color print images, softer, more pastel. RGB adds up to white; CYMK adds up to black. You get the idea. As my printing continued to demonstrate, my printing continues to change. My images are a bit softer these days, more.... pastel. But I'm liking it. I would attribute this to something that is a driving force in my printing. Each and every image has a look, a feel, from whatever emotional connection the printer, and even the viewer may get from seeing how it is presented. That, for me, is the Pictorial Effect the printer creates, using shadow and lighting effects during the creation of the negative, then the printing.  That, is the printer's Hand, recognizable over time. I'm fairly happy with this one, as I got what I had set out to do, represent the elements in such a way as to make the train be the visual point.

Gum Dichromate Print                                                                                                                           "The Blue Goose" ~ 8"x10"                                                                                                            Florence, Oregon

"Capt Jack" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

 At long last, Capt Jack is finally a finished print. Fourth iteration of printing. Because of the coating & layering approach I had to take to arrive at this finished version, A problem I had to work with was colors running while still wet, hung up. Normally, this isn't a major problem, with a bit of vigilance; assuming one 'sees' said color(s) in the first place. As noted before, I am 95% color blind to red/green. I basically see those colors as they come out of the tube, and even in mixture. It's when a shear layer of red, migrates over into another color while drying down, that, I tend to miss. When a print takes two or more weeks to produce in the first place, tossing a print, near completion, is painful. Doing it three times tests one's commitment to printing.

There is another variable at play  with this print, being a paper and sizing trials, variations upon the theme. This print was made on Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper; 140lb. I began printing gums using Arches hot press watercolor paper; sizing with Know gelatin @ 2.5%, paper soaked twice. This print was made on the Fabriano paper using one clear layer of gum/dichromate, printed 5-minutes, then cleared. This version of sizing actually works fairly well, although there is more 'paper bleed' than would be the case with the two dips in gelatin sizing. Along with this test was another one using one layer of Knox gelatin; @ 2% solution. This version is very much like the single printed clear gum layer. 

There are several more versions of sizing papers, as well as many potential papers to use for gum printing. When I make Kallitype or Palladium prints, I use Revere Platinum paper, as it just works so well and gives such a beautiful, rich finish to the metal based prints. One thing I found it not to be all that suited for is repeated dipping in water after repeated coating and printing exposures. The paper tends to warp and curl more than the Fabriano. I will say here that I have yet to try the double soaking with gelatin sizing at 2.5%. I used the single coating. A second aspect of the Revere paper, is the smooth surface of the printing side. Very desirable for palladium prints, workable for gums. The Fabriano paper has more 'tooth'. Not so much 'roughness', like cold pressed, but a 'woven' feel to it, and the gum layers work very well in concert with that surface tooth. The Fabriano paper also doesn't curl much, with very little assistance, saying almost flat.

I use the Fabriano paper for the 11"x14" gum prints, buying the sheets in the full size; 22"x30", then cut them in half and trim, to fit the paper mask that hosts the negative, same size as the print paper; 15"x19 1/2". I simply use the Strathmore Sketch Pad paper; 16"x20". I made mask of the first sheet, then mark through the window the corner points before tearing off the marked sheet and cutting out the  window for the negative. These two sheets; mask & printing paper, are to be the same size, then get "Married" before being registered and set to the pins taped to the printing frame I made for gum printing. Not to make a pitch here, but the details of the connection between the gum and paper, and the controls for that are my fifth book, on gum printing.

The basic relationship between paper sizing and gum application, has to do with the amount of color that can be mixed in the gum, second only to the viscosity of the gum. Pre-mixed commercial is sold at 14 balm, which equates roughly to a 37% mixture. For me, that's a bit thin. I mix my own gum, at 50% solution. That allows for more color that can be added to the gum to begin with, and the gum/color mixture is then mated to the paper/sizing, with the intended results of printing the least amount of gum color needed to represent each color layer with intended fidelity. Less sizing, more 'open paper', the more the color will soak into the paper, sort of 'fading' upon dry down. Too much sizing, as well as too much gum color, finds the gum & color building up onto the surface, usually ending up cracking, and or flaking if way too much is used.

This version of the print is a softer, dreamier sort of image. I got the dreamier part from my wife's take on it. She's my color guru for gum printing. She's a watercolor painter and sees the full color spectrum. At first I was not fully on board with the softer, dreamier part. I have worked for years to make the images on the surface and "strong', printed bold. And that, is one of the hallmarks of gum printing. The ability for almost endless variations upon the theme; making the image your own. The printer's "hand". This one is mine.

Gum Dichromate Print  ~ Unique                                                                                                                  "Capt Jack" ~ `11"x14"

"The Blue Goose" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

This past hiatus from posting derives from a list of challenges I've been entertaining. The other half of my life, outside of printing, and writing. In that recent period I have been experimenting with a different printing paper for gums, as well as the sizing. Not all of that presented good things. Within that experimentation were three print iterations of Capt Jack. None to my liking. I am now four  color layers into the fourth print of Capt Jack. I've narrowed the useful portions of the process and finding the current relationship workable.

When I began printing gums forty years ago, I had far fewer choices for printing papers. I settled on Arches hot press watercolor paper, sizing it with two soakings of a 2 1/2% Knox gelatin solution. That paper worked well, then. I have come to find papers more to my liking more recently. One of those papers is Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper. I like the feel of the surface, and the tooth of the paper. This paper is also sized in the interior and exterior, however, it really needs further sizing for finer gum work.

There is a balance between the paper sizing, gum viscosity and amount of color added, that, when in balance keeps the printed image on the surface of the paper sufficiently for good textural detail. If the sizing isn't sufficient, the gum too thin or the added color too much for the first two elements, the image falls into the paper, disappearing as it dries. Too much sizing with thick gum and a lot of color creates an image that more resembles garish acrylic painting work. There is no 'right' amount, or balance. There is but the visual effect the printer finds to their liking. As I have noted before, I mix my gum at 50% solution for printing. So, for me, a single sizing can work, but will require just a little heavier watercolor mixture  works best for each color layer.

The recent tests reveal that two soakings of gelatin sizing at 2% solution works very much the same as a single clear gum coating, printed then cleared. Each of those sizing treatments leave a slightly different visual feel to the image, how much textural detail is shown, how much paper texture is seen. Getting the color mixtures right makes all the difference in the final  print. It not only has everything to do with how many color layers are needed for a finished print, but also how much textural detail, and smoothness of the coated image is left. There are no 'boundaries' in gum printing. Just personal tastes.

Because of the paper/sizing arrangement of this print, it required ten printed color layers to arrive at a suitable interpretation of the image as I planned. I am no longer interested in replicating a realistic interpretation of the scene. What I want out of the image is my own interpretation of how it is to look. That, is the point of the gum printer. Showing the printer's 'hand', or 'gesture'. I haven't seen any other gum printer, few as there are, to print like me, or each other. Each printer is unique.

Gum Dichromate Print                                                                                                                                 "The Glue Goose" ~ 8"x10"                                                                                                                          Florence, Oregon