Thursday, January 13, 2011

Gumoil Prints



This is a really cool, but rather difficult alternative photographic process called the gumoil processes. It was invented by Karl Koenig in, I believe, the early 1990s. It uses similiar chemsistry as a gum bichromate, but instead of water or acyclic paint it uses oil paint. It isn't printed the same as gum bichromate processes. The image is printed first with just the chemistry, then you brush the oil paint on top and rub it back off. The print is then placed in a bleach bath to be etched, followed by a 10 minute rinse.

This was kind of difficult processes for me to print with. It is very finicky and easy to lose my image quickly. I was running into problems where the paint was too thick so that the image couldn't be seen or else the paint was washing off in the bleach etching bath. It was really hard for me to keep the details of the photo as well. I had about 6-8 images I printed multiple times for this series, but these were the only two I was actually satisfied with. I love the gritty, old look that gumoils offer so I want to keep practicing to see if I can figure out a way to better control my printing. I am really glad I tried it and got at least something to turn out.