>>Our very own Peter Frederick published that trick in his Sunprinting book
back in the '70's. If Peter is lurking about maybe he can post some of his
techniques?
Eh Pete?<<
--Dick Sullivan <<
Yes Dick I am still lurking about,thanks for the mention.Anyway the
technique that I devised was not that original, being a straight ripoff
from the Kodak system of stripping of colour C/Types for mounting down onto
canvas all the vogue in colour portraiture in the middle 70's.
As my book is well out of print here is a
description of a technique
I finally adopted, which worked very well and hardly ever tore.
First laminate the surface of the print allowing a
surplus of 1inch of laminate all round the print,next selotape this surplus
down onto glass or smooth plastic, then take a wooden ruler or straight
edge and sharply tap the top layer of the resin coating, after a few taps
the top layer will begin to curl up and separate from the base, then take
hold of this top layer firmly and gently pull up, until about a 1/2 inch
off top layer is clear right along the print .
Take this strip and attach it to a wooden dowel
with selotape , then gently roll the dowel across the back of the print
until all the top layer comes away. There will still be
quite a bit loose paper fibre attached to the print , this is now removed
by making up a 50%solution of Sod Hydroxide, please be very careful at this
stage as this solution is highly caustic so use protective clothing and
gloves, take a pad of cotton wool and pour the caustic soda onto the centre
of the print and gently polish towards the edges until the resultant wood
pulp becomes a white goo, wash this goo off with clean water dry with a
hair dryer strip the print from the glass, and you have a perfect lightly
translucent image which transmits from ten to twenty times the amount of
light when compared to a normal resin coated print .
Hope this helps
pete
Ps Dan Estabrook 's method is something new and innovative, I am intrigued
to know how the wax penetrates the polyurethane top coating of the print
maybe it is due to the heating effect of the iron, any way certainly a new
avenue of approach this is what is so fascinating about photo/alt always
something new to learn.
BTW I have found that sunflower oil works great on paper negs produced on my
Epson 1520 perhaps you could give it a try Dan ?