"Grandpa's Lantern" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

 I have been making some updates to process, to accommodate changes needed for better image quality. My determination of course, arriving at the ending I had envisioned.  The gum print I am working on now should demonstrate the changes. That's the theory. I've increased the gelatin sizing from 2 1/2% to 3 1/2%, using two sizing dips at 115º-125ºF for one minute, maybe a bit more.

This print is the first 11"x14" gum over print I've made in some time. Life challenges and all. It is another print in the series Grandpa's Cabin. The print is in line of Poor Man's Palladium; palladium toned Kallitype. The palladium print finish becomes the sizing for the paper, and the gum layers lay very nicely on top the palladium surface.

Gum over Palladium Print

"Grandpa's Lantern" 11"x14"

"Arizona Scenic #1" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

 This was a difficult print to make, with th severity of difference between the lower sky, along with the reflection in the mirror smooth water, and the rest of the image There isn't much to say about this printing beyond saying it entails ten print layers, using fourteen color mixes. I am no longer interested in 'making the print look "real", as in what would be seen by the viewer, however that would be seen in full color. My interest is shaping the print image to my version of the scene as I see it artistically. Nothing like the real life version. My primary interest is all about the light in the scene.

Also, in consideration to my choices of colors from the available palate, is that I am pretty much color blind in red/green. When I can "see" red, or green in a print, it's Red. Working with reds and green colors, made up of two or more primary colors printed in shear layers. Subtractive color theory, same as in a watercolor painting. Shear layers of various colors, as "washes". In gum printing a stack of color print layers. One of the controls of gum printing is the application decisions; evenly, over the entire image area, or locally, in a way that doesn't show it was locally applied. That is the tricky part.

I began making gum dichromate prints in 1982, with my early period quite differently from my current period of printing. There was a twenty year period of no printing, just life demands that overtake the best laid plans. Having begun printing again five years ago, give or take, my view of process is now different than in the past. I am not only looking at the process differently, but have had those years to think about that process, with all the variables that control the outcome. Paper, sizing, order of color printed, color choice, color density of mix, application considerations, print time, float time, and water temperature. Each of those alters the outcome in a visual way. Sometimes, in visually striking ways. All of these considerations become almost second nature after time. The thing that shapes those choices is the artistic perspective. Becoming comfortable with the direction being taken, the choices made. The ultimate question being "how do I want this scene, or subject to look in this print". No one else has to like the choices. Only the printer needs to be pleased.

Gum Dichromate Print

"Arizona Scenic #1" 8"x10"

a

"Mujera Venta Cestas" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

This image is the companion print of the "Woman Selling Baskets". This print named the same, in Spanish, being that is what I wanted. I interpreted the print image much like the first one, with the background to the women's image being bright and blank, focusing the image on the women, and their respective clothing.

The very nature of gum printing has to do with the treatment of the print, from the first handling of the printing paper, to the final clearing. I have traditionally used the gum sizing at 2 1/2% gelatin sizing; two dips. Over the years I have altered the rag paper I print on, now using Hahnemuhle rag paper, which is presized for most photographic hand coated printing, just not for gum printing. For the 11"x14" gum prints I use Fabriano Artistico rag paper, which I also like a lot. But again, needs sizing.

 What I am noticing of the past prints is that they are very close to being similar in how the image sits on the surface of the paper. There is, and should be some absorption of the gum into the paper, the gum attaching to the 'tooth' of the pap[er for the gum to stay on the paper after floating and final clearing. There are areas whereupon the gum has spacial openings between layers on the bottom, as some floats off, with another layer laying over that. Some tooth is necessary. What I am going to do is raise my sizing level to somewhere between 3% & 3 1/2% gelatin sizing, to further hold the image on the surface more, thereby increasing the textural replication and acutance of the image. When the gum image sinks or falls into the paper, it becomes softer, less sharp, and tends to be lighter, being the fuller range of the color not being reflected off the paper for the viewer.

This was a nine color layer print, using a dozen colors. Some layers were split colors, applied to different areas, like the ribbon on the subject's dress, hair, skin tones, dress and background, which I kept blank, as brilliant light. Had the colors rested more on the surface of the paper, the sharper the subject detail and textural quality of the fabrics.

Gum Dichromate Print

"Mujera  Venta Cestas"

"La Paloma, Mexico

"Woman Selling Baskets" ~ Gum Dichromate Print

 Being a blog, I feel all elements of printing should be offered up for examination, even when it isn't pretty. This image is one that has cost me more time and print runs, in gum, than any other image I've ever printed. This print is the seventh printing of this image; same 8x10 digital negative, from an Epson 1430 printer. A truly beautiful piece of work itself.

As noted earlier, the passing of my wife didn't enduce the creative spirit, on top of my attention and focus was off, allowing mistakes to take place. Any blemish on the paper, any miscalculation or wrong appliation and the print is junk, like the first six attempts. Preparing the paper for making a g um print takes five days. Each color layer printed is another day and this print needed seven color printing, with two split colors added simultaneously, there nine colors on seven printings.

What captures my eye today is not that much different from my earlier work. My first photographs, with a photo series of my little sister hitching up a Beagle to a wagon, wearing a newly acquired cowgirl outfit, replete with twin cap pistols. That was in 1963, two years after I got my first [knock off] Brownie camera. This image was taken while visiting La Paloma, Mexico a couple years ago, a sleepy little border town directly south of Deming, New Mexico, a route taken by Poncho Villa in the early 20th century. That is also a photographer's cornucopia of shots during reenactments of that famous ride. Lots of Caballos and Caballeros in full regalia of riding outfits of that time, and full Gracheros sombreros.

The woman in this image was with another woman, sitting on the street selling Baskets and wares. I ask her permission to take the shots of them both, one at a time. Something of a coup. It is good to carry a few five dollar bills, in earnest payment for taking someone's photograph in a foreign country.

This is a seven layer gum dichromate print, using nine separate colors. I began with a basic CYMK run but in KCYM order, then began coaint the different tonal zones, requiring different print times. The woman's face being one zone, needing the least amount of print time. The blouse was next in tonal density, with the background being needing the most print time to retain color. The point of the printing was all about the light. I not longer care all that much for tonalities. What I'm after now, is capturing the light on a subject.

Gum Dichromate Print ~ Unique

"Woman Selling Baskets" ~ 8x10

La Paloma, Mexico

"Two Ponies Wild" ~ Gum over Gold toned Kallitype

    I have begun printing again, after a lengthy hiatus, the passing of my wife, and the two gum prints I had near finish, yet lost focus and ended up tossing them both, with them not what I had in mind. This is the first of the fresh prints, a four color gum run over a gold toned Kallitype. I base the process to be used, gum, or gum over, dependent on the image, how each process would likelyrepresent the image. For these horses, I chose gum over. I also printed the image in socium acetate, for a cool black image, instead of the warm browner image of developing in sodium citrate.

I based the gum over colors to a basic CYMK, with the toned b&w image as the K run, as base coat, then followed by cadmium yellow, then quinacridone magenta, and finally turquoise. To accommodate the various tonal ranges, best suited for each color applied, I used print time. The longest print time being for the sky, at nine minutes, leaving the soft blue as the dominant color. The ponies were in a print range of seven minutes or less, needing less light for permanence. 

Gum over Gold toned Kallitype

"Two Ponies Wild" ~ 8x10

Open Range, Eastern Arizona