"Printmaker's friend": New emulsion from Calvin Grier to replace gum bichromate

koraks · Jan 3, 2023

This popped up in my YouTube stream just before New Year's:
It's Calvin Grier from the Wet Print teasing us with a non-toxic alternative to gum printing. Unlike e.g. casein and carbon, gum printing is apparently difficult or impossible to do well without dichromate. Apparently Grier has been cracking some nuts last year and has developed a combination of a colloid and a sensitizer (he calls it "Printmaker's Friend") that can substitute for gum arabic and dichromate. It's supposed to be a rather flexible and non-toxic way of making pigment prints, and it's apparently more light-sensitive than dichromate as well.

There's a longer (nearly 2 hours) video on it here as well: This is far less organized and apparently a mashup of a Zoom conference and some additional footage giving some background info. I've only watched about half of it and that part mostly covers material from his Calibration e-book series, and his discussion of tonal separations from a single negative seems to not be necessarily specific to this new printmaking material - indeed, I had been doing something quite similar with regular carbon (and with moderate success) for a bit before hearing about this.

Anyway, it's fascinating stuff and makes me wonder what this material (or rather, combination of materials) is, exactly. Grier is probably going to keep his lips sealed about it since he's in the process of a patent application. Probably due to this it should hit the market only in 2024 with some workshops being given by him later this year.

Andrew O'Neill · Jan 3, 2023

I'm excited to give it a go when it comes to market, as its another way to work with pigments. Without Gum Arabic though, it's no longer a "gum" print. I'm curious to know what he used as the carrier? I wonder if he used Diazo as a replacement for dichromate?

koraks · Jan 3, 2023

Yeah, I have the same questions, @Andrew O'Neill
I suspect the colloid is perhaps something like PVAoh and indeed one of the several diazo compounds for sensitization. However, what's remarkable is that this stuff apparently doesn't use a clearing bath to get rid of a sensitizer stain, and that rules out DAS. Perhaps @nmp can chime in on this; my knowledge of everything azo is really elementary at best.

nmp · Jan 3, 2023

koraks said:
Yeah, I have the same questions, @Andrew O'Neill
I suspect the colloid is perhaps something like PVAoh and indeed one of the several diazo compounds for sensitization. However, what's remarkable is that this stuff apparently doesn't use a clearing bath to get rid of a sensitizer stain, and that rules out DAS. Perhaps @nmp can chime in on this; my knowledge of everything azo is really elementary at best.

I didn't watch the whole video - have to do it when I have a good chunk of time. From what I gathered, it is a very high contrast emulsion, since he started the whole process with doing a 5-layer build to get the whole range. What else is high contrast - silk screen emulsion, since by design it has to be 0 and 1 and nothing in between. If I remember from the last time I made a silk screen (or observed it being made,) I don't think there is a stain left after washing/developing (of course, they are not really concerned about that) - they add some dye to the emulsion so there is a contrast with the open areas. Apparently, UV exposure bleaches the sensitizer -

Diazo Stain Clearing
After development, a short (30 seconds to one minute) exposure to UV clears most of the residual yellowish stain on PVA sized papers. The re-exposure seems to affect gelatine sized papers much less than those sized with PVA, and further test have to be made in order to assess if the persistent stain is due to gelatin itself or the hardening agent used4 or to other factors5. As reported below, a clearing bath can be used to remove the stain from the print after completion.

Gum Diazo Printing v1.4 – AlternativePhotography.com

www.alternativephotography.com

If you are making B&W, this wouldn't such a big problem - it will warm up the print somewhat. Notice Grier was anyway adding some red pigment in the mix to add warmth.

Incidentally, I mused about this here not long ago:

Finding and buying Diazo (CAS 2718-90-3)

Hi all, I know there are several threads about locating Diazo but my specific question is if this is the correct Diazo for carbon printing (as an alternative to dichromate)? I got the CAS # from Calvin Grier's Gum Printing ebook and I also saw a reference by Sandy King and others. I am...

www.photrio.com

I would say just get a speedball silk creen emulsion kit. Add some pigment and print a Stouffer. See is there are any steps printing between 0 and 1. Compare that with traditional gum bichromate.

:Niranjan.

koraks · Jan 3, 2023

nmp said:
it is a very high contrast emulsion, since he started the whole process with doing a 5-layer build to get the whole range

No, that's a bit of a red herring, in the sense that his use of layers isn't due to the inherent contrast of the emulsion. In fact, it seems to be possible to adjust the contrast like in gum or carbon by simply altering pigment load. He does seem to have standardized on a certain sensitizer concentration, but given the flexibility in pigment load and also emulsion dilution (he mentions that somewhere in the long video), there's no inherently embedded contrast in this emulsion. Both layer thickness and pigment load can be adjusted to taste.

nmp said:
If I remember from the last time I made a silk screen (or observed it being made,) I don't think there is a stain left after washing/developing

Ah, that's what I was curious about! Thanks

nmp said:
I would say just get a speedball silk creen emulsion kit.

I might try that one of these days. Last time I checked they were all out of the kits with the separate sensitizer, but for this purpose, the ready-made stuff should work just as well. But it'll probably have a dye added to it for its intended purpose, as you also mentioned.

PGum · Jan 3, 2023

I too was excited to see this announcement and welcome a non-toxic dichromate alternative. Looks like the ZOOM was filled up with interested practitioners!

I used to do gum printing ( hence my username: Pgum!) but my facility is not great for managing dichromate so I abandoned the dichromate approach and spent time -about 10 years ago, on developing safer alternatives using an FAC-peroxide system with casein, gelatine ( CHIBA-like), but it remains experimental.

As Calvin is filing a patent, there must be novelty as that is the major test for patentability. If the specific combination of materials and how it is applied is already known to the public (publicly disclosed) then it‘s not patentable, so I suspect that the sensitizer is something different in one respect or the other, or a known sensitizer is utilized with a novel emulsion and/or approach.

I know someone who did go the route of international patent filing (successfully- in the dental industry) -big expensive task and then defending it is another full time challenge. It would have to be a big potential money maker to be worthwhile, not sure if ”gum” printing would fit those big expensive shoes!

It will probably be a while before a patent gets published with all of the required paperwork, and patent office delays, and we find out what is being used, but then we could not legally make it up ourselves and would need to buy it from The Printmaker’s Friend. Maybe that’s ok if it makes it safe for us wanting to ”gum” print free of dichromate!!!

Peter Friedrichsen

nmp · Jan 3, 2023

koraks said:
No, that's a bit of a red herring, in the sense that his use of layers isn't due to the inherent contrast of the emulsion. In fact, it seems to be possible to adjust the contrast like in gum or carbon by simply altering pigment load. He does seem to have standardized on a certain sensitizer concentration, but given the flexibility in pigment load and also emulsion dilution (he mentions that somewhere in the long video), there's no inherently embedded contrast in this emulsion. Both layer thickness and pigment load can be adjusted to taste.

You might be right. I have yet to watch the full video so I should reserve judgement. However, i would have liked him to show a single layer process from the get go and compare that with a single layer gum process. Showing a 5-layer process kind of felt like switch-and-bait to me... Not everyone would want do 5-layers for a monochrome, although eliminating developing in the intermediate layers looks like a novelty - reminded me of finite elements, kind of building up the structure by taking thin slice at a time.

:Niranjan.

nmp · Jan 3, 2023

Speaking of CHIBA, I love this guy's work - he does not have the sophistication of Grier, but he sure does have flair:

:Niranjan.

koraks · Jan 3, 2023

nmp said:
a single layer process from the get go and compare that with a single layer gum process.

Maybe he will one day, but I suspect he wouldn't see the point in it. I don't think anyone really prints one layer gum. Besides, between the pigment concentration and layer thickness controls there's so much possibility for contrast adjustment that I don't see how this would be any less versatile/flexible than gum. Probably more so, in fact.

nmp said:
Speaking of CHIBA, I love this guy's work

Hah, that's pretty cool! I can see how this would work for some. It's not my style; the loss of highlights is a dealbreaker for me.
I do see the potential of FAC-sensitized gelatin though. I've played with it a tiny bit lately and it really has a lot going for it.

nmp · Jan 3, 2023

koraks said:
Hah, that's pretty cool! I can see how this would work for some. It's not my style; the loss of highlights is a dealbreaker for me.
I do see the potential of FAC-sensitized gelatin though. I've played with it a tiny bit lately and it really has a lot going for it.

That's it though. He is only doing this with one layer. Let's see how other people's one layer stack up to it. And look at his negative - photocopier I think. He gets pretty damn good image in his bathroom sink using styrofoam cups. See some of his other videos where he uses other mediums. I see these lovely photo-realistic gum prints and then find they have done 8-9-10 layers to achieve it. I am not sure I have that kind of patience.

:Niranjan.

koraks · Jan 3, 2023

Yeah, you got a point alright. This approach might just work quite well in a multilayer approach and with screen negatives as opposed to continuous tone. Might be worth a try...

fgorga · Jan 3, 2023

This process sounds very interesting.

I am, however, a bit concerned about the proprietary nature of the process. Of course, Calvin is well with in his rights to patent his process/materials. However, to my mind, this really goes against the ethos of the alt process community. A major feature of that ethos is the free and open sharing of information.

Those of us who are old enough, remember the (re)birth of alt processes in the 60s as a reaction to the corporate 'control' of photography. Thus, patenting this process seems to me a large step backward.

In this light, I'll remind folks that dichromate-free methods for making photographic prints already exist.

There is the The D’Augustine/Chiba Method for making color images. Heather's website describing her work seems to be defunct. However, a copy is available at the web archive (see: https://web.archive.org/web/20201110112331/https://www.heatherdaugustine.com/).

Additionally, there is Jim Patterson's P3 method for monochrome prints, see: https://www.darkroomdoc.com/post/polyferric-pigment-print-p3

Regards,

koraks · Jan 3, 2023

fgorga said:
However, to my mind, this really goes against the ethos of the alt process community.

I disagree. I could write a long essay on it, but in the end, it's a matter of one opinion against another. You're entitled to yours, but it remains just an opinion.

One thing in particular is problematic, which is that argument about corporate control. The way I see it is that ever since the early days of photography, businesses have been trying to make money from it and this has supplied many generations of photographers with equipment and materials otherwise unavailable to them. In a way, the corporatization that you seem to loathe so much has been the main driving force behind the democratization of the medium. Literally everyone is able to make photographs at zero marginal cost becauss of it. Alt processes on the other hand remain reserved to the happy few who can afford the time and materials. For all intents and purposes, they're an elitist endeavor.

You see, the argument of trying to take the higher moral ground on something like this gets very dirty very fast.

Sorry to be so blunt about it.

fgorga · Jan 3, 2023

koraks said:
I disagree. I could write a long essay on it, but in the end, it's a matter of one opinion against another. You're entitled to yours, but it remains just an opinion.

One thing in particular is problematic, which is that argument about corporate control. The way I see it is that ever since the early days of photography, businesses have been trying to make money from it and this has supplied many generations of photographers with equipment and materials otherwise unavailable to them. In a way, the corporatization that you seem to loathe so much has been the main driving force behind the democratization of the medium. Literally everyone is able to make photographs at zero marginal cost becauss of it. Alt processes on the other hand remain reserved to the happy few who can afford the time and materials. For all intents and purposes, they're an elitist endeavor.

You see, the argument of trying to take the higher moral ground on something like this gets very dirty very fast.

Sorry to be so blunt about it.

Of course, my response represents only my opinion and you are welcome to disagree.

My thoughts are specific to alt process and not to photography in general.

My opinion arises from my experiences in the late 60s and early 70s as a young fellow with an interest in photography. This was a time when many of the processes from the 19th century were being rediscovered and relearned. The atmosphere (and motivation) at the time for these experiments was clearly anti-establishment/anti-corporate and egalitarian.

I have no trouble at all with folks making money in photography or most other fields. I do, however, think that information should be freely shared; especially in the arts.

Further evidence for the ethos of free and open sharing of information in the alt process community is the flourishing of online resources such as fora (including this one), the alternative photography email list and websites (such as alternativephotography.com).

nmp · Jan 3, 2023

I would have come up with a better name though. It kind of sounds like Bar Keeper's Friend - may be some detergent that magically cleans out all the stains from a gum print. Not a whole new turn-key materials and process combo to make a pigment print from scratch.

:Niranjan.

PGum · Jan 3, 2023

nmp said:
Speaking of CHIBA, I love this guy's work - he does not have the sophistication of Grier, but he sure does have flair:

:Niranjan.

I still think that this CHIBA approach has great potential as a gum replacement. I have used it with casein and also fish gelatin which is a room temperature liquid gelatin so quite convenient. Also had very good succcess with some plant proteins ( for those wanting to avoid animal products). Later in 2023 I will share some results!

koraks · Jan 4, 2023

fgorga said:
My opinion arises from my experiences in the late 60s and early 70s as a young fellow with an interest in photography.

Well, opinions result from the experience that shape us, and of course yours are different from mine. Mind you, just like you, I prefer to share information freely and I sure am curious as to the detailed information about Grier's invention. On the other hand, I'm very hesitant to extend that notion of 'open source' to others - you and I for all I know are amateurs with a passion for what we do, but no necessity to make a buck out of it. It's different for Grier, who does have a family to feed. That in itself (which also feels far removed from any form of 'corporate control') is for me sufficient to not be moralistic about it. Walk a mile in a man's shoes, and all that.

Anyway, enough said on this; I think the topic on freedom of sharing information vs. protecting it for commercial interests is a relevant one, but it would be more appropriate for discussion in its own thread in e.g. the Lounge or the Ethics forum. If you feel like continuing the debate, I'd like to invite you to open a thread in one of those places.

nmp · Jan 4, 2023

koraks said:
Well, opinions result from the experience that shape us, and of course yours are different from mine. Mind you, just like you, I prefer to share information freely and I sure am curious as to the detailed information about Grier's invention. On the other hand, I'm very hesitant to extend that notion of 'open source' to others - you and I for all I know are amateurs with a passion for what we do, but no necessity to make a buck out of it. It's different for Grier, who does have a family to feed. That in itself (which also feels far removed from any form of 'corporate control') is for me sufficient to not be moralistic about it. Walk a mile in a man's shoes, and all that.

Anyway, enough said on this; I think the topic on freedom of sharing information vs. protecting it for commercial interests is a relevant one, but it would be more appropriate for discussion in its own thread in e.g. the Lounge or the Ethics forum. If you feel like continuing the debate, I'd like to invite you to open a thread in one of those places.

Agree about Grier in that respect. He is making a living out of this and we are just tinkerers (to borrow a phrase.) By the same token, we (at least I) are not his core customers. I am not likely to buy his emulsions and make prints with that. Where's fun in that? I think earlier on he shared a lot of info on his blog, perhaps he was in his hobby phase then. His workshops though seem to much cheaper than many others I have seen with the same durations. Cost of travel from US and room/borad will hurt though.

Patenting has its own pitfalls. On one hand, you are protected, but on the other you have to divulge the whole concept and you have to make damn sure you have claimed everything under the Sun related to that concept. Otherwise, it is very easy to change something and get around the patent. It is also hard to litigate infringement unless you have deep pockets. You can't really stop anyone from using it as long as they are not doing it for commercial purposes, if I understand correctly. Also, for a patent the bar is you have to show that your concept can not be obviously deduced from prior art - not just that nobody had it before. I think most of what we do in alternative processes would fall in that category.

If you don't patent, you can keep it a secret and sell the proprietary material or service like Fresson - at the risk of someone else reverse-engineering the thing and start undercutting you.

Either way has risks.

:Niranjan.

nmp · Jan 4, 2023

PGum said:
I still think that this CHIBA approach has great potential as a gum replacement. I have used it with casein and also fish gelatin which is a room temperature liquid gelatin so quite convenient. Also had very good succcess with some plant proteins ( for those wanting to avoid animal products). Later in 2023 I will share some results!

In this video he uses liquid "hide glue-" is that similar to fish gelatin?

:Niranjan.

koraks · Jan 4, 2023

nmp said:
"hide glue-" is that similar to fish gelatin?

In principle, yes. But in the video he's using a product called "Titebond hide glue" which apparently is liquid at room temperature, so easier to work with than a gelatin or regular hide glue. Interesting stuff; you could roll it on instead of brushing as well; seems to me this would make it even easier to get an even spread.

nmp · Jan 4, 2023

koraks said:
In principle, yes. But in the video he's using a product called "Titebond hide glue" which apparently is liquid at room temperature, so easier to work with than a gelatin or regular hide glue. Interesting stuff; you could roll it on instead of brushing as well; seems to me this would make it even easier to get an even spread.

Amazing....how would you even pick such a thing - there must be tons of products like this to try. Apparently it contains a thiocyanate and a di-amide, probably functioning as cross-linking agents. Who knows what that would do in the mix...

https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/msds/Titebond-HideGlue-4oz.pdf

And by the way, he uses overhead transparency printed on a laser printer for his negatives.

:Niranjan.

koraks · Jan 4, 2023

nmp said:
And by the way, he uses overhead transparency printed on a laser printer for his negatives.

You know, I seriously considered getting a PostScript compatible (not quasi-PostScript such as most HP printers, but true PS3) laser for making halftone screen negatives. It should work quite well. The main thing holding me back is/was the still limited resolution of typically 1200dpi, which when translated into halftone screen lpi's translates to...well, not much

nmp said:
there must be tons of products like this to try

Speaking of which, do you have an idea how a polyvinyl alcohol-based approach would work for an application like this?

PGum · Jan 4, 2023

nmp said:
In this video he uses liquid "hide glue-" is that similar to fish gelatin?

:Niranjan.

Hide glue is really quite similar to traditional gelatins and applied to furniture making/repair after heating up. An additive might give it room temperature solubility. Fish glue is derived from cold temperature fish like cod and is liquid at RT without additives although it contains a biocide. Shelf life is many years in such a state ( I have tested it after 8 years and still seems to work the same way) Mine is about a 45% solids content and has a small amount of white pigment ( chalk?)to make it translucent so it is easier to see when applying to furniture etc. Can dilute 1:1 with water and then the pigment will settle out after 6 mos, but can leave in, as it is so little in a thin film that it is invisible in a print. Unfortunately there is more pigment stain than gum for a given strength and the brushing quality is not as good as it seems to get tackier faster than gum as it settles into the paper. It is the staining that I would love to be able to reduce. It makes a durable print with the CHIBA approach.

further reading:

Fish Gelatin Products | Fish Collagen, Fish Glue, Liquid Gelatin

retail fish glue - what I have

High Tack Fish Glue - Lee Valley Tools

Discover the High Tack Fish Glue. Buy this product now on our Lee Valley online store.

www.leevalley.com

nmp · Jan 4, 2023

koraks said:
Speaking of which, do you have an idea how a polyvinyl alcohol-based approach would work for an application like this?

So I am ordering this today - it's the cheapest (smallest quantity) out there for an emulsion/sensitizer kit. It will be good to benchmark this, as a starting point. Perhaps viscosity might be too high for paper coating since this is designed to be slapped on a screen and dried thick. So use the same recommended emulsion to diazo ratio, make it more dilute and coat, not even bothering to put any pigment in it since it already contains a blue dye. Expose a stouffer and see what kind of response it has. From that see which direction it will lead to. I also have a small quantity of PVOH (87% hydrolysed, soluble at room temperature) so can play with that too with the sensitizer provided.

Too many things to do though. So most likely the kit will stay on the shelf for a while - like many other things, some I have no idea why I bought them in the first place. If you want to pursue it we can crowd-source this, building on each others' (and anyone else who might want to join in) findings.

:Niranjan.

nmp · Jan 4, 2023

PGum said:
Hide glue is really quite similar to traditional gelatins and applied to furniture making/repair after heating up. An additive might give it room temperature solubility. Fish glue is derived from cold temperature fish like cod and is liquid at RT without additives although it contains a biocide. Shelf life is many years in such a state ( I have tested it after 8 years and still seems to work the same way) Mine is about a 45% solids content and has a small amount of white pigment ( chalk?)to make it translucent so it is easier to see when applying to furniture etc. Can dilute 1:1 with water and then the pigment will settle out after 6 mos, but can leave in, as it is so little in a thin film that it is invisible in a print. Unfortunately there is more pigment stain than gum for a given strength and the brushing quality is not as good as it seems to get tackier faster than gum as it settles into the paper. It is the staining that I would love be wble to reduce. It makes a durable print with the CHIBA approach.

further reading:

Fish Gelatin Products | Fish Collagen, Fish Glue, Liquid Gelatin

retail fish glue - what I have

High Tack Fish Glue - Lee Valley Tools

Discover the High Tack Fish Glue. Buy this product now on our Lee Valley online store.

www.leevalley.com

Thanks, Peter.

"Printmaker's friend": New emulsion from Calvin Grier to replace gum bichromate

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"Printmaker's friend": New emulsion from Calvin Grier to replace gum bichromate

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