Gum on masa, again
Well, folks, I've been tearing my hair out trying to print on this paper, and it's not working well for me at all. I've re-read the latest discussion on the subject, and I don't see anywhere anyone mentioning the problem that is making the paper impossible for me. I've adjusted my coating mix to its requirements so it coats okay, though the paper tends to go wavy as it absorbs the coating, and it prints fine, but the thing that ruins prints for me is that when the paper gets wet through, it becomes very fragile; any disturbance of the paper (gently picking up an edge to look at how it's developing, etc) opens a crease, almost a tear, that tends to run diagonally across the print but can go in any direction, and there can be more than one of them. Does this happen to no one but me? Do you use a screen or something to support the paper in the water, the way one would with a delicate Japanese paper? Someone suggested that being such a cheap paper, maybe there are large inconsistencies between batches so that none of us are actually using the same paper, which would explain why people have such different experiences with it. Keith recently suggested that "there are a few interesting little surprises that await those who are willing to experiment" with this paper; is this one of them? If so, I'm not delighted. Katharine
|