> George,
>
> Just made a few 11x14 cyanotypes last night. I used unsized BFK
> paper and some cold pressed water color paper. Coated with a foam brush.
> The prints are fine. Don't worry about overlapping. What you are doing
> is fine. I tell my students to use the old painters motto (house painters)
> which is, brush it on, brush it out, brush it in. The paper, when you are
> finished, should be damp but not dripping. Judy S. and I and perhaps others
> do not think that paper needs to be sized for cyanotype. My opinion is that
> oversizing is what causes a lot of streaking etc.
Well finally some sense. But actually, I have never seen streaking in a
cyanotype, accidental streaking that is. I don't know about "oversizing"
because if one of my students sizes paper for cyanotype we whisk them off to
Bellvue to have their head examined. (And please note that the worst of
the unnecessary sizes for cyanotype is the most trouble to do -- gelatine.)
However, what is being lost in this discussion is that the reason for rod
application of platinum (at least as I understand it) is because the
emulsion is so damn expensive. Applying with the glass rod ("Puddle
Pusher" in this country, in two sizes, costing as I recall $12 & $18
from Bostick & Sullivan) gets a neat even coating *with the minimum of
emulsion.* You can use a hypodermic to draw a thin bead of emulsion along
the place where the glass meets paper, then swish one way, swish back &
nice even coat. Someone told me they saved 6 drops of emulsion coating
this way. (Keeps on surface, no sinking in during the applicator stroking.)
OK. In cyanotype you can coat the whole eastern seaboard for about 27
cents. Slosh it on. Let the paper soak it up. Don't puddle -- that will
wash off. But apply a nice saturated coat. On most papers that will make a
richer deeper blue. Foam applicator (dedicated) is probably best because
it won't shed hairs and only costs 55 cents (more than the emulsion,
notice). But if your paper isn't too wet-weak, you can go back & forth
several times. Also, for heaven's sake, do this by room light. You can
then see how even the coating is -- glance at paper sideways to look for
puddles, weak spots. (At the next list getogether we're going to have a
bonfire of books that say coat cyanotype by yellow bug light!)
Judy