Custom Made Gumoil Printing
Gumoil starts with a photographic negative, which is contact-printed onto a sheet of watercolour paper coated with a light-sensitive gum bichromate emulsion. Once exposed to UV light, the image becomes faintly visible on the paper and is washed to remove the unexposed gum, leaving behind a delicate relief image. Oil paint is applied by hand, allowing the pigment to cling to the hardened gum areas while wiping it away from the softer highlights. This layering and removal process can be repeated multiple times to build depth, tone, and texture.
Gumoil printing is the balance between precision and imperfection. The process invites unpredictability, with subtle variations in coating, exposure, and pigment application leading to beautifully expressive results. The final image often feels timeless capturing not just the subject, but the atmosphere and emotion behind it.
The grain of Gumoil printing captures a rare fusion of chemistry and emotion — an image textured by both light and the artist’s patience
Custom Made
Created by Hand
The Gumoil process is slow, tactile, and beautiful. Each piece is crafted in a small bespoke printmaking studio in Ubud, Bali, with the guidance of professional printmakers who bring years of experience and expertise to every stage. The image begins as a photograph or digital design, which is enlarged and then carefully transformed using the traditional Gumoil technique.
This particular photograph was taken on the Indonesian island of Sumba, capturing a local man diving for sea urchins in a remote blue lagoon. Sumba itself remains relatively undeveloped steeped in tradition and defined by vast, wild tropical landscapes. It was a still, quiet moment with almost no one around, now preserved in the atmospheric, grainy monochrome unique to Gumoil. This print is A0 in size and makes a striking, bespoke wall piece for any home.
