Re: 1st tricolor on Masa. Impressions...
Loris, thanks for the speculation about the cracking, but it doesn't
work, because I always keep the back of the paper wet while
developing, and that was also the case here. The problem is not dry
paper; the wetter the paper gets the worse the problem gets, for
me. But thanks for thinking about it, anyway.
The thought about my paper being lighter/thinner is an interesting
one, if Keith hadn't piped up and said that he also finds the paper
extremely difficult to handle when wet, I would think that explains
the difference between my experience and others, but as it is I'm
inclined to think it's a function of the size of the paper, since
Keith and I are printing at similar paper sizes.
I did find that I needed to add water to the coating mix, not because
the coating needs to be thinner, but because the sized paper (smooth
side) didn't coat as easily -- brush would drag and grab on the sized
paper and make it difficult to smooth the coating out. Which is
interesting because unsized, the paper coats very smoothly and
nicely. So I followed Keith's suggestion and added water. I did
find that the more liquid coating would go all wavy as I was coating,
but because the paper is so thin, you can coat across the waves
without causing any unevenness in the coating.
katharine
On Oct 12, 2008, at 1:11 PM, Loris Medici wrote:
Hi all,
I did a quick'n'dirty tricolor test on Masa. See the result below:
http://tinyurl.com/4z24ho
For this one, I used the same sizing method (1%, hardened with
formalin),
coating solutions, exposure, development (automatic, 30-40 minutes,
changing water every 10 minutes) ect. I devised for Fabriano
Artistico.
The negatives also were the same (curved regarding tests on
Fabriano). So
this is quite far from what one can get; later, I should definitely
test
for the optimum exposure time and curve for this particular paper...
Coating itself isn't hard, but as you can see in the print (blotches /
unevenness), you must devise a different coating protocol than what
you do
with Fabriano. My first impression is that it needs a thinner coating,
because it provides less tooth to the emulsion(!?) - the surface
considerably slicker than Fabriano. Those blotches are due to uneven
coating; where there was more emulsion than what is actually
needed, it
ended into the development water. Next time, I will try to dilute the
coating mix with water (as suggested by Keith) in order to thin the
emulsion.
The paper (size = 11x14") didn't cracked during the development stage
despite I wasn't overly cautious or delicate in handling. Probably
larger
sizes would require more care and delicacy in handling, to diminish
any
possibility of creasing and/or cracking (certainly, but I'm pretty
sure
that I didn't got any cracks Katharine suffered, even after soaking
the
paper overnight - and I wasn't light-handed).
Katharine, maybe (most probably!) your paper is different than mine
because both Daniel Smith and Jerry's Artarama (my supplier, I got my
paper from them in two batches, about 2.5 years ago and 1.5 year
ago...)
list the paper as being 70gsm now, whereas in both of the packs I
have on
hands, the paper is clearly labeled as being 86gsm!? If it was one
supplier I would be skeptical, but when more than one supplier list
the
paper as being 70gsm, then we should think of different versions
and/or
another "update" (which ruins the paper for our purposes) made by the
manufacturer.
An idea (based on a speculation): Something that can be done to get
rid of
the cracks, is to try to keep upper side of the paper evenly wet
during
long soaks. (Speculation alert!) Maybe uneven wetness is causing the
cracks during development (due to uneven shrinkage / swelling).
Therefore,
covering the upper surface with a scap piece of Mylar or Yupo (or
similar
material as a moisture and gas barrier) would help keeping the
upper side
evenly wet.
Anyway, FWIW, that's all for now. Hope that helps / adds something
to you...
Will post other results after working out the optimum parameters.
Regards,
Loris.
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