For the transfer paper both should work. Fibre based is preferred because
the available surfaces are better.
The easiest material to use for tissue, I have found, is ortho film. I use
discarded negatives, and pour the
gelatin onto the emulsion side of the ortho film. I don't think the side
matters, but thats
what I tried the first time and it works. The advantage is that it lays
perfectly flat. This is
important because if there are any hills and valleys in your tissue while
you are pouring
the thickness of the gelatine will be uneven and in some places, too thin.
Also you can
wash the excess gelatine off the tissue after transfer and reuse it.
> 2. As for the tissue, I have on hand both sumi ink and Winsor Newton
black
> tube watercolors. Which is more likely to give a satisfactory result
for
> a beginner?
>
The only differences that I have found is aesthetic. The process seems to
be pretty immune to
source of color as long as it does not react with the gelatine. I often use
gouache which has
a large quantity of other stuff in it (white pigment, gum arabic, etc) and
still works well.
You will want to experiment with the quantity of pigment. Generally I find
that less is better.
The easiest for a beginner is ink, since it is easier to mix. I have used
cheap sumi ink which
gives me a very black black, works well but is very grainy. I have found
that Higgins black
india ink a.strauss@worldnet.att.net (must be the non-waterproof type) gives me a dark chocolate brown
with fine grain.
The mixture that I use is 10% ink. Thats 10ml ink to 100ml gelatin.
Hope this helps,
Cheers
Al
----------