U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: First print on Al

Re: First print on Al



Hi Loris and Keith:

I will check to see if I can obtain DR's Syst 3 Ac Gesso locally.

I will also be meeting with someone who uses primed Al sheets to do
(?) art on hopefully tomorrow or day after. Will inform you if relevant.

When you say you sanded the surface, Keith and Loris, was it AFTER
applying the gesso? I would imagine if one lightly sanded the Al
sheet, then squeaky cleaned it, then gessoed it, it might benefit
from increased tooth.

Color Merging: when you do a yellow gum on top of a blue gum pass on
paper media , you get some green areas. I did not see any green on my
first Al print: the two colors remained unmixed, defined by the
underlying brush strokes from the gessoeing and the brush strokes
from spreading the gum emulsion.

I will get after a pumice using/supplying printer tomorrow.

Rajul







On 22-Mar-09, at 9:52 AM, Loris Medici wrote:


Hi Rajul,

A new observation by my side: yesterday, I prepared a new sheet using
another brand (Talens) of acrylic ground and ta-da!... I got those
water
bubbles too. It seems something related to acrylic gesso
brand/formulation. The one which didn't give me problems was Daler
Rowney's System 3 (not Cryla!) Acrylic Gesso. If I get it correctly,
System 3 is the student grade product group from Daler Rowney.

BTW, I sanded the surface with 180 then 600 grade sand paper and it's
really ultra smooth one -> I'll see how it prints tonight (or tomorrow
night).

Keith also mentioned water bubbles and he uses Liquitex if I'm not
mistaking. Try to find Daler Rowney System 3 Acrylic Gesso.

Can you please elaborate more about color merging?

Regards,
Loris.


22 Mart 2009, Pazar, 6:24 pm tarihinde, Rajul yazmış:
Loris and Keith.

The gesso I used was Stevenson's acrylic gesso. If this is the
problem, I will switch to Liquitex.
Will try a thinner mix and see if pumice instead of CaCO3 will
diminish the super-white.
I have still to find a source for pumice locally - Keith, where did
you get yours from?

The uneven gelatin spread does not seem to translate into any
observable discrepancies.
However, the colors do not merge between passes as they do on a paper
medium. So one has to pre-mix color combos to get desired effects.
I add everclear along with HCHO before spreading.
Will use a roller instead of a brush.

The Al plates were discards from a printing house. The new batch I
have is thinner than the previous one and I will make doubly sure
that they are squeaky clean before priming them.

Many thanks!  Rajul

Once again, Thank you.  Rajul

On 20-Mar-09, at 12:47 AM, Loris Medici wrote:

Yes, I feel got a hold on it with this trial -> I'm very excited
about the
next ones... (Have to fiddle-a-little with the negative first.)

Adulterant: Calcium Carbonate - since it isn't supposed to be
there... (At
that concentration.)

I don't get this bubble thing, I haven't experienced something like
that.
Are you using the same acrylic ground as Keith? (Liquitex.)

Try to decrease gelatin strength + add some rubbing alcohol just
before
application. Maybe it's too strong and sets before you finish
brushing???

Regards,
Loris.


20 Mart 2009, Cuma, 12:54 am tarihinde, Rajul yazmı�:

LORIS - It must feel good that the first print is done.

What is adulterated gesso? What color does the adulterant impart to
the ground?

After 2 gum passes, the first of my prints cracked in one spot, and
small water bubbles are still visible. Perhaps they will be less so
after further passes. The texture of the brush-applied ground and
brush strokes from the gum emulsion actually seem to lend a
different
kind of interest to the print.

Application of a 4% formalin-hardened gelatin was uneven (unlike
that
on paper media) but this is not very obvious in the print-in-
progress.

KEITH - can you provide the composition of the thinner gesso mix
you
use and how many layers of it do you apply? How many gum passes
does
your gessoed Al allow for?

JUDY - the gesso-gelatin size seems interesting but the
difficulty in
using it with Al sheets seems to lie in keeping the size molten
through the application of multiple coats of it with a roller.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Rajul