[alt-photo] Re: pre-shrinking paper

[Michel Debar]

First, to prevent damaging the fibers of the paper, I would recommend that
the soaking would be not in water not warmer than 40 C°. Higher temperatures
tend to rupture the fibers, and weaken the paper. Soaking for one hour is
probably overkill, 20' would normally be more than sufficient, followed by
drying. To diminish the shrinking, you can repeat the process one or two
times.

If possible, you may choose to align the paper direction with the longer
edge. The paper shrinks in the direction opposed to the "paper direction"
(or grain direction). By aligning it this way, the shrinkage is along the
shorter edge, and thus minimized. See any good book on bookbinding for more
on this topic, or a brief explanation in
http://www.katercrafts.com/grain.htm.

However, depending on the image, you may decide that shrinkage might be less
noticeable if it is along the long edge.


2010/1/18 francis schanberger <frangst at gmail.com>

> I have relatively little experience pre-shrinking paper and would like to
> solicit advice from the alt processes list.
>
> I am working on a three color gum with a cyanotype layer and noticed that
> the paper dimensions did change even after a pre-soak and dry in hot water
> for an hour. The image dimensions are roughly 20" x 16".
>
>
>
> --
> francis schanberger
>
> www.frangst.com
> _______________________________________________
> Alt-photo-process-list | http://altphotolist.org/listinfo
>



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Michel Debar
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