Re: flax paper and palladium
The University of Iowa Center for the Book offers a range of handmade papers, including a flax paper and a fermented flax paper with gelatin sizing. Wonder if you could get them to make a flax paper for platinum :) http://www.uiowa.edu/~ctrbook/store/handmadepaper.shtml Gord On Thursday 14 December 2006 9:21 am, Christina Z. Anderson wrote: > Good morning, > Yesterday I had the fun experience of collaborating with an art grad > student who makes her own flax paper. She wanted to put photographs on her > flax sculptures, so I told her to come over to my house and we'd see if it > worked. I thought those on the list who are paper makers might like to know > this. > > I guess she buys the flax pulp from a paper supply house, which is somewhat > expensive--she said $100 a bucket (it comes liquid). I know NOTHING about > paper making, but the flax paper is dark parchment tannish, and quite > textural, and very long fibered, but the paper is flat and very thin. It > irons well (flax being same as linen, of course) and lays flat, in other > words, after wet baths it doesn't shrink and pucker. > > I thought it would disintegrate immediately in the development bath, or > whatnot. It didn't . We were doing small prints for testing and not large > though, but they held together perfectly, even when I held them up by one > edge. Very strong. > > I tested one with just regular pt/pd, one on top of gelatin size, and one > with the pt/pd cut in half with water. The paper is very absorbent so that > 26 drops were sucked up into an area of, let's say, 4x6. On the gelatin > size it did not soak up right away so that was a good thing, so sizing > could be the way to go, but the print we agreed looked best was the one > with pt/pd cut in half with water. It was warmer in tone (redder) than the > others. > > Then after we completed this test it occurred to me that cyanotype toned > with tannic acid would be the cheapest and easiest way to go (no > development or clear baths) but what amazed me is the beautiful tonal range > of pt/pd on this paper. > > I also felt it would be great paper to give a final soak in wax to > transparentize. > > I think Camden is going to test VDB and liquid emulsion for her, right > Camden? For archival purposes, I wonder if the toned cyano would be best, > so you don't have to mess with silver left in the paper? Nevertheless, > this paper has great possibilities. I told her she should sell it, but > each sheet just to make (small sheets) is about $10 so selling them, she'd > have to probably charge $25 for say, a foot and a half square sheet? > > I wish I was a paper maker...I wonder if there is a commercial source for > homemade flax paper? Someone google it for me, I have to go gum print :) > > This is definitely the benefit of teaching in an art > environment--collaboration. The other grad student who came over to watch > does large charcoal drawings, erases and redraws and erases and redraws > while she films the drawings over an 8 hour day, and then ends up with a > movie, dark and charcoaly--really beautiful. > Chris > CZAphotography.com -- Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology gordon.holtslander@usask.ca University of Saskatchewan Tel 306 966-4433 112 Science Place Fax 306 966-4462 Saskatoon SK., CANADA homepage.usask.ca~gjh289 S7N 5E2
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