U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Artists' tape

Re: Artists' tape




For what it's worth I mention that I've made my own "artist's" tape for defining edges of a coat of emulsion -- by mixing Rhoplex N580 (whatever that is, about which more in a moment) with maybe 20% water to about the consistency of heavy cream and coating on one side of clear plastic strips that I cut to size and shape: Some small "holes" are cut out of larger pieces for coating small shapes, but mostly they're about 2 inches wide strips of various lengths for edges of whatever size print.

They're infinitely re-usable, leaving the paper with no problem and when not in use "store" for re-use stuck onto the formica side of my coating table. And because they're transparent I can place them precisely (if that matters).

If they get emulsion on them I can wipe that off if it bothers me, tho the plastic doesn't take much emulsion. In fact they've been in use so long that when I looked in the cabinet just now to find the name of the sticky stuff, I found it had hardened in the pint container in the years since I last used it. (Tho it looks like if I pulled out the top couple of inches, the stuff beneath would still be OK.)

I'm pretty sure I bought it at Kremer... but the label says "Packed/Distributed by" and the rest is blank.

So what is "Rhoplex" anyway? The name is so familiar it could be anything. On the bright side, however, the current strips seem fine ..... (tho I'd have to make some new ones to work *really* large).

J.