In my humble experience what appears to be of paramount import is my=20
initial shrinking of the paper. Regardless of the particular paper I=D5m=
=20
using (which more often is BFK Rives, Magnani Italia, or Strathmore=20
Drawing) I place the paper in a deep tray of hot water (hot as possible)=20
for a minimum of thirty minutes, turning the sheets every few minutes. =20
The paper is then hung to dry. After which I bake the hell out it in an=20
old platen print dryer for a minute or two. I suppose you could do the=20
same in any dry mount press. I=D5m placing the paper between blotter paper=
=20
so the platen will not affect the papers surface. =20
The next step, of course, is sizing & hard sizing the paper. After which=
=20
I again place the paper in my platen dryer; but this time only briefly to=
=20
flatten the paper. During each step in the pre-processing steps as well=20
as throughout the printing cycle I make every effort to hang the print=20
whilst it dries by alternating corners. After the final sizing I then=20
punch my registration holes. The paper at this point is remarkably rigid=
=20
and I feel I really get clean punched and durable registration holes. =20
Despite the use of heat drying during pre-processing steps I am able to=20
maintain impervious sizing typically for four to six printings worth=20
(after which I=D5ll hit the print with brush applied sizing between print=
=20
runs).
The rationale behind this is rather obvious. The principle papers we are=
=20
using are typically 100% cotton, like my king size cotton bed sheets=20
which if washed in extremely hot water and dried with heat will end up=20
queen size (shrunk in all directions). The heavy pre-shrinking=20
(certainly not a new idea) I utilize allows me to consistently print=20
large images with meticulously accurate registration using simple 2 pin=20
registration.
Christopher Tsouras
tsouras@nevada.edu