Re: flax paper and palladium
Anne, Thanks for sharing your experience. I'd love to see some samples, if you've got any digitized... Camden Hardy camden[at]hardyphotography[dot]net http://www.hardyphotography.net On Thu, December 14, 2006 2:03 pm, Anne van Leeuwen & Peter Hoffman wrote: > Chris, (and Camden) > > I am a papermaker so I'm happy to be able to contribute something to > the list. I will be teaching some of these combined processes > probably next year at the Brimingham Bloomfield Art Center just > outside Detroit. I was just hired to be on their faculty. > > I'll mention sources for paper and info at the end of this email. > > Paper made from flax and abaca (a wonderful fiber from the banana > family) are much, much stronger than any cotton, whether it's rag or > cotton linters. In the sheet formation process they (flax and abaca) > have higher shrinkage so must be restrain dryed otherwise they > shrivel up. (That is great for some purposes, such as paper sculpture.) > > I've been using combinations of flax, cotton and abaca for some time > with my alternative processes and am very happy with these fibers. > The weight varies depending on the papermakers desires. But both > flax and abaca have wonderful wet strength for very thin sheets. The > paper will withstand repeated rinsing, I've never had any of my own > paper fall apart on me. (Until recently when I tried thinner sheets > of !00% Rag, I didn't like it and won't do that again). > > An occasional project I'll do is make larger sheets (22X30 or larger) > of flax paper, walnut dyed (soaked walnut hulls, you get a great > dye). Using cyanotype I get a navy blue that is attractive on the > walnut colored paper. Frequently I'll get oversized negatives made > from Kinkos or a blueprint company and make images. On the walnut > dyed paper, the navy blue color and with the "unsharp" oversized > negative I get interesting textural pieces. > > Also, I have toned cyanotype paper with the tannic acid rinse, then > washing soda. Depending on the length of time I can get an almost > black color to the cyanotype portion. The paper itself can be a bit > stained but what I have done is to draw with watercolor pencils or > watercolors on the images (usually floral photograms) and get a very > unique image. > > I have a type of Hollander beater so can make the pulp myself. It is > expensive otherwise. Making the paper cuts the expense way down but > it is work and time consuming. > > Camden mentioned U of Iowa as a good source for the paper. They are, > in fact they restored the US Bill of Rights (I believe). Great > facilities. > > Also here are two other sources for those interested: > > Twinrocker > www.twinrocker.com (excellent source for information about paper and > a place to purchase paper) > > And here is a book written in about 1984 called: > > THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHY > by Catharine Reeve & Marilyn Sward > > Excellent papermakers who experimented quite a bit with alt processes. > > Chris, fun to hear of your experiments. > > Anne > > > > On Dec 14, 2006, at 10:21 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 >> > >
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