RE: Gum over Cyanotypes
Judy, > Don, I find your process awesome... I would hardly call it awesome - more like drudgery! > but hope you will excuse a question. Have you measured each direction of the paper after the first and then after the second-soak-and-dry ? > Nope! What I did do was to to test the waters so to speak and try this with a couple of test sheets to see what the effect of this type of soaking would be. Since I did not discover any ill effects such as weird spots and the paper seemed to print, dare I say 'normally' I continued with the double shrink. Probably overkill for some but it's all what I regard as background processing. IOW, at that point I'm not in a rush. Besides no one gets in a rush way down south, haven't you heard. :) > Not that I could doubt you -- but, still, I'm surprised. I mean what paper would dare even wiggle after this treatment... ? > It probably doesn't wiggle, it seems pretty dead at that point. Completely lifeless - just as I wanted. :) > I also wonder if you shrunk smaller sizes rather than the "parent" sheet (love that term) if you'd get the full shrink first time around? > Since I have the space and the convenience of a huge bath tub why not deal with the sheets in whole vs smaller pieces? I have temporary drying lines suspended in that bath room, which has a nine foot ceiling and I can easily hang ten sheets to dry. My wife is used to such shenanigans as long as I'm tidy she allows it. I usually sit some sheets aside for the option of gum over palladium which I will cut into smaller sheets before sizing for the gum layers. All of the sheets (parent size or babies) are sized in the garage during warmish weather. Again the ceilings are 9 feet above the floor allowing for plenty of room for the big sheets to hang and dry quickly and I can do a bunch of those, about 30 at a time can be hung. If I didn't have the luxury of space I would probably do smaller sized pieces. But I can't lay the paper on towels to dry around the house like some do since I have cats. They would ruin the paper in a heartbeat. But it's not a problem since I do have the space to hang in the garage. Of course I do have to pull the tractor and the other vehicles out to make space. One of the nice things about owning and living on a Southern plantation! Now if I could just get that sugar cane subsidy I would be really happy. Don
|