Thursday, September 06, 2007

Gum Arabic Transfers of Detroit




These were created from my original photos of Detroit.
I then made xerox copies of them and used a gum arabic transfer method with sepia ink to create the final print.

For all those that commented:
It is a process where you wipe a gum arabic solution over your xerox and it is resisted by the black areas. This allows you to roll your inked brayer over the xerox and coat all the black areas with ink. Meanwhile your white areas stay clean and clear.
A high contrast image is best.

I made a lovely series of three like these, but in blue, for my friend back in March.

5 comments:

Planet Janet said...

Hello fellow printmaker. You left a comment on my blog about Etsy - thanks for that (ask me any Qs about Etsy if you want). I would have voted these Detroit images as "best print," but they're not on your list! They're edgy and fantastic. How do you transfer with gum arabic? I've been searching for a good transfer method for inkjets. Next week I'm trying photo-engraving at my printmaking class. Maybe I'll post a result. I am loving your prints! Can I sign up for email notification?

ArtiePartie said...

I also love your Detroit prints. I'm hoping to try out gum arabic transfer printing with some marks I have photographed from a mine. Have you found any good sources of instructions on this? Many thanks, Carolyn

vaidehi said...

I loved your gum arabic transfers.... I have been trying these out for a while now, but haven't been successful as yet. Do you know where i could find detailed instructions for this process? Thanks!

Mel said...

Beautiful prints, keep it up.

-Matthew Lachowski
www.matthewlachowski.com

Sheri said...

I feel my blog has suffered tremendously. I'm sorry I never replied to these comments. I kept getting so much spam that I didn't see the real comments.

Thank you for the kind words.
You can create these with xerox copies. Has to be a xerox. You need easy wipe with your ink, will also need gum arabic to do this. Using 90% gum arabic and 10% water.

It's a process of coating with gum arabic mix with hands especially white areas, wipe with damp sponge, rolling with ink with firm pressure at first, clean highlighted areas with wet sponge, roll more ink, rewipe etc. lessening pressure as you go. Lift onto an acrylic sheet and put through the press with your clean paper on top.'

Hope this helps.
Thanks again.