I'm sure there are plenty of corrections to be made to my procedure, but I
hope someone may be able to help with the most pressing problem: shortly
(30 seconds to 1 minute) after the tissue and support paper are brought
into contact in the warm (110F) water bath, the coating on the support
begins to bubble and soon the entire mass slides off the support paper. I
peel the tissue off after two minutes, but the bubbling and sliding are
well under way by then. I suspect the support paper is improperly
prepared. The prodedure was as follows:
Strathmore 70lb. drawing paper pre-wetted and sized in a mix of 75gm bloom
deionized ossein, 4cc glycerin, and 500 ml distilled water. Allowed to dry
on a screen about 4hrs. The paper was thoroughly dry (the RH is so low in
my house right now that the dog crackles when he trots down the hall). The
paper was then soaked in a mix of 4gms potassium alum and 1000 ml
distilled water. It was allowed to dry again before being placed in the
warm water bath and becoming limp and adding the exposed tissue. Then
everything falls apart.
What have I overlooked? This technique is an amalgam of the 30 or so
methods I've read about. My suspicion is the potassium alum is a problem.
Thought I had some chrome alum on hand, but didn't, so I tried the
potassium alum anyway, since I was well into the process. Or have I missed
some other obvious fact?
The support, by the way, is larger than the sensitized tissue so there was
not a "safe edge" problem. We won't talk about the tissue preparation
right now.
Hope some one can help and thanks in advance. While waiting , I will be
cleaning black pigment from every surface in my home.
Tom Hawkins
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