Re: Thanks Keith (my hero!) Re: Gum on masa, again

[Keith Gerling <keith.gerling@gmail.com>]

Wow, a Hero!  Glad it worked.

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 2:49 PM, Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com> wrote:
> Okay, I've had to introduce some slight variations, since I don't use trays
> but sinks, and can't rock the sinks.  What I'm doing is setting the half
> sheet of coated and printed paper on a sheet of 16x20 mylar and introducing
> it into the water, face up,  supported by the mylar sheet.  I can't seem to
> stop myself from swishing the print around to wash  the dichromate out
> before leaving it in the water to develop, face up, but as long as the paper
> is supported by the mylar as I wash waves of water over it, it seems to be
> fine.   I leave the mylar sheet under it; it fairly quickly settles to the
> bottom, but when I want to wash some more water across, I just bring the
> mylar up under it.  Then when it's time to take the print out, I bring it
> out supported by the mylar, as Keith suggested.  Works like a charm; three
> prints on half sheets so far, and not a crease in sight.  I'm still trying
> to get the hang of coating the stuff though; my usual coating mix doesn't
> work well at all and I have to keep adding more and more water to get it to
> coat nicely, and then I'm not pleased with the tonality with the added
> water.  But those are details, not obstacles.
>
> I've used my last sheet of sized paper, so will have to size more before
> experimenting further, but just wanted to thank Keith for his comments and
> suggestions.  Very helpful, thank you.
> Katharine
>
>
>
> On Oct 12, 2008, at 12:49 PM, Keith Gerling wrote:
>
>> I find masa extremely difficult to handle when wet.  I usually "scoop"
>> it out of the water - developing it face up - with a sheet of aluminum
>> or plexiglass, hang it up clinging to the support, and then peel the
>> print off of the support after it has dried a little.  Certainly it is
>> understandable that you would get creases.
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 10:35 PM, Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>