U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Question about Masa paper

Re: Question about Masa paper

On Jan 23, 2007, at 6:18 AM, Jack Brubaker wrote:

Katharine,

Thanks for trying out the masa paper. I think it was my inquiry that may
have started you on looking at it for gum.
Hmm, I didn't see an inquiry from you about it; it was someone who asked me offlist whether I'd tried this for gum, who got me interested. Not that it matters in the least, but you know what a stickler I am for accuracy. :--) At any rate, you're very welcome.

But I wonder if this paper being
made from sulphite stock is like the paper I was asking about that was used
by Kuhn in the early 1900s. Did Japanese papers exist at that time that were
made of sulphite or is this an example of a more western paper being made to
resemble traditional paper, and if so how close is it.
To me this paper isn't so much like a traditional paper as like a western paper that works kind of like a traditional paper even though it doesn't look very much like one. I've enjoyed using it for cliche=verre, because it takes brushstrokes beautifully, like a sumi paper, and all the nuances of the brushstrokes print nicely from the paper negative onto gum, since the paper is quite thin. But it doesn't particularly resemble a traditional paper. It's bright white, for one thing, and with the nap on one side and the smooth surface on the other side, it puts me more in mind of a disposable diaper than a traditional paper, except that it's thin and crisp like typing paper. For a traditional paper to print gum on that looks more like a traditional paper, I prefer Kozo.

Kuhn's paper sounds to me like mulberry.
Katharine



Kuhn printed on a
paper that was a light brown color with small flecks of darker brown veg.
matter. I thought I had samples of Japanese papers here to look at to try to
identify it, but they have not surfaced. My memory is that the paper he used
was smooth on both sides and was a paper I had been told before was from a
plant that supplied both the fiber and the transparent size that so firmly
glued together the sheet.

Jack