Life continues, as does the testing phase of the new gum printing approach. Family health issues as well as keeping a home fully functioning, when you're old. Things just take longer. I can say that I am making progress with the testing. The theory works, the work now is to what degrees, how much I can get away with, print times, float times, getting all the variables to marry up and work together.
It is also time to pull out the Burke & James for some fresh studies, as well as the old Rollie A model and fire off a roll of film, some street scenes near the university where the hustle and bustle of college students and other patrons fill the streets of University Ave outside UA front gates. My tripod converter arrived, allowing me to easily copy new film photos on the light box I built just for this purpose. Good things will come of this.
I have prepared two new sheets of Arches hot press watercolor paper for gum printing, cut to 15"x 191/2" to keep with the 16x20 format I had hoped for. Turns out, art products do not come in 16x20 format. So, I cut back to the 15x20 format to accommodate the 22"x30" paper, shortening the length a half inch for easier fitting in the float tray, as well as on the printing frame. The first print I'll be working with as an 11"x14 image will be "The Pub" probably the oldest such pub in the country. This pub has been located in Old Town in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest still existing town in America. I stepped into this dimly lit establishment, same as it was in the 17th century, with a bar keep and one patron, a fisherman with a parrot on his shoulder. I raised the camera and snapped the image. Soon.