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

[Andrew O'Neill]

Well, that should get you some prints. I have the impression that Calvin is quite conservative about the yield of his products.

Apparently, you can work with it straight out of the bottle (very thick), or dilute it down with water. I'll have to try both. I'm curious to see if exposure is indeed up to 10x faster, intensity of colour with or without sizing, and how easy it is to clear in a cool water bath. I didn't bother getting a black, as I just don't use it in my work.

 

[TheYoungPretender]

All updates are really appreciated. There's been a real lack of end user reports thus far and some real world experiences would be amazing.

It would also be quite interesting to see how suitable the product would be for gumoil (polymeroil?). I noticed that someone had tried an in-camera variant which seems fairly complicated.

 

[NedL]

But Andrew, magenta isn't a color
Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

 

[koraks]

But Andrew, magenta isn't a color

Neither is cyan, and we can't actually see yellow!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

But Andrew, magenta isn't a color
Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

HAHA yes, it is but an illusion!

 

[Carnie Bob]

All updates are really appreciated. There's been a real lack of end user reports thus far and some real world experiences would be amazing.

It would also be quite interesting to see how suitable the product would be for gumoil (polymeroil?). I noticed that someone had tried an in-camera variant which seems fairly complicated.

Simone who is mention in one of these posts has been working on a material much like Printmakers Friend. He is a Gum Oil printer so I would think it may be.

 

[koraks]

Simone who is mention in one of these posts has been working on a material much like Printmakers Friend.

Yes, that would be Zerochrome SqQ: https://zerochrome.org/
I've not yet read anything about this being used for gumoil. The development was a collaboration between Simone and Kees Brandenburg.

 

[Carnie Bob]

Yes, that would be Zerochrome SqQ: https://zerochrome.org/
I've not yet read anything about this being used for gumoil. The development was a collaboration between Simone and Kees Brandenburg.

Simone is a gumoil printer so I am sure he made it for his passion

 

[sylvainf]

I’ve started using SbQ myself, and I can confirm that it’s really very promising. After many, many tries, I’m very much in agreement with everything Simone & Kees wrote... except on the question of sizing. This technique, like all others coloides based, requires good sizing (i'm using acrylic varnish - the cheapest, sold at shop “Action” in Europe, works superbly). But you can work with Yupo paper... without sizing.
This emulsion basically has all the advantages we're looking for: very sensitive (10s for me), long storage, non-toxic... It works just as well as PVA-Diazo, with the advantage of shelf life and it doesn't tint the paper at all, which is good. I've done b&w, color and I've also used it on glass (it sticks really well). It should be possible to make gumoil with it, but I haven't tested it yet.
As the technique is still largely unknown, I’ve created a series of videos on Youtube showing the preparation and realization of monochrome and trichrome images. You can watch them here:

 

[nmp]

As the technique is still largely unknown, I’ve created a series of videos on Youtube showing the preparation and realization of monochrome and trichrome images.

Nice videos...I am sure they will be useful for anyone trying out this new process. Thanks for sharing.

:Niranjan.