Re: Resinotype Mountain Revisited

[Alberto Novo <alt_list@albertonovo.it>]

> First:- To make things really easy for those of us who do not 
> have sophisticated electronic scales ( I DO have them ) could you simply 
> state, in level teaspoons, the measures of rosin  to pigment powder?  I 
> noted that Keith managed, somehow, to get the ammounts reversed.
I use both an electronic scale (0.1g) and a very old scale for document (0.5 
g, one of those with a weight near the arm and a quarter of circle scale, 
once used also for letters, 0-50 g and 0-250 g). So I am not used to measure 
by volume. The proportion by weight is 4 parts of pigments and 10 parts of 
rosin. This proportion may be changed adding more pigment if this is weak, 
but increasing the ratio pigment/rosiny our powder will stain the highlights 
more. 
> From my own experiments the following might also help:-
> Stick your selected paper to a sheet of slightly roughened acrylic sheet 
> with a solution of  warm  Gelatine 10gms to 100ml Water (10%) brushed on 
> the back of  your  paper and smoothed out by hand with an interleaf of 
> cheap paper to prevent soiling.  Directly following this the base coating 
> ( the same 10% Gel) may be evenly brushed on and allowed to dry.  I have 
> found that all of the subsequent stages, including sensitizing, are much 
> easier to handle.  The completed print can be stripped from the acrylic 
> when all stages have been completed.
The first times I coated the paper by immersion, but I ever had problems 
with tiny air bubbles forming a few moments before the settling of the 
gelatine :-(
Moreover, I find poorly repeatable this type of coating. 
So, I started to pour a known volume of 6% gelatine over my paper. The most 
important part is to have it over a perfectly leveled plane. Next, you may 
simply spread the gelatine over with a proper tool. Or use a frame, fixed 
with pliers, and pour your gelatine inside, etc. 
I use a glass cutted slightly wider than my paper, where I deposit my wet 
paper keeping it with my fingers at the opposite corners, so that there do 
not form air bubbles. Check for bubbles looking at the read side. Then I 
wipe off the excess water with an old windscreen wiper staring from the 
centre, and finish the wiping with a paper towel again starting from the 
centre.
I look after the air bubbles because they might rise the paper leading to a 
different level of gelatine. 
But all these operations are the same for preparing a carbon tissue or a 
paper for oil printing...
And are again the same for sensitizing. 
In this way, you will also become skilled for other two additional 
techniques :-) 
Alberto