Re: sizing paper

Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Sat, 28 Sep 1996 11:05:56 -0400 (EDT)

On Fri, 27 Sep 1996, Terry King wrote:
> As I said briefly on the list yesterday and at greater length in the archive,
> you can avoid the necessity of pre-sizing yourself if you use a well sized paper
> such as Bockingford or Fabriano 5 and brush with warm size between coats.
>

And as I have said early and late, if you want to re-register successive
coats precisely a preshrink is necessary (although fastening to a
substrate is a further improvement) (Deny all you like, Terry. I stand by
this statement.) The preshrink in hot water tends to melt factory sizing
off the paper & raise the nap, so that in many (not all) cases, depending
on the paper & the emulsion mix, an added gelatine size is a great
benefit.

> Quicker, cleaner, less effort and just as effective. You get going straight
> away.

> >I also have used brush-on size and found an additional problem -- with
> >the gelatine size on one side of the paper only it tends to curl like
> >gang-busters.

> Apply it warm and dry it quickly and use a paper of an appropriate weight ( 140
> lb ) and this will not happen.

Ahem. Hand-drying brushed-on gelatine is not my idea of "getting going
straight away."

In fact I find it far more trouble than tub sizing, not to mention the
fact that it wastes costly (in this city) electricity and adds the damage
to the environment of creating the electricity, plus the balance of
payments problems of importing the oil, and the inevitable sequellae of
all those oil oligarchies in mideast getting forever richer and richer...
and no doubt other reasons *against* forced drying, and *for* easy, free,
ecologically correct air drying.

Not to mention that there are (many) times, dear Terry, when one's idea of
"an appropriate weight" might depart from yours!! Not everyone wants to
print on a horse blanket all the time...

However, speaking of paper, I notice that you recommend Bockingford. My
recollection of Bockingford is of texture so rough you couldn't tell if
the print was in register or not...

Judy