Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Sun, 17 Jan 1999 13:49:16 -0500 (EST)
On Sun, 17 Jan 1999, Adam Kimball wrote:
> This could truly be the silliest question asked all month. But how dry is
> dry for preshrinking? I'm too unorganized to preshrink my paper one day,
> size the next, and harden the next. So, tonight I went to the printmaking
> studio I do gravures at to size paper- it was quite cold and it was taking
> forever for the paper to dry after the shrink. Most of it dried quite
> thoroughly, though bone-dry might be pushing it - but some wasn't quite as
> dry. Fed up, I sized some of this still slightly damp paper. I'm only
> working on small prints now, so this shouldn't be a big issue - but in the
> future - how dry is dry? ;)
Relax, Adam. The question is actually moot. I've been doing a series of
tests (to be reported when finished, should the day arrive) on shrinkage
in paper. Even a long long soak, perfectly dried, in the hottest available
water, is subject to expansion & contraction... usually less than the
original shrinkage, but not necessarily, according to the paper, its mood
of the moment, and the whims of the paper gods. I also proved to my own
satisfaction that hot water shrinks little if any better than cold. I'm
soon to test the relation of the gelatin coat to the shrink (or the
psychologist, whatever).
In sum, I'd say so far -- the paper will change, relative to the size of
the print and sturdiness of the particular paper, although after TWO
preshrinks and the size & the hardener, it's probably about as stable as
it's going to get. Still, I have had paper shrink again after the 6th or
7th coat (maybe because the weather got cold, with more steam heat,
driving the room humidity down, despite all efforts to humidify).
For absolute precision with a large size print on other than fairly rigid
paper, you need to fasten to a substrate. I have a couple of methods in
work on that, which do not involve drymounting, and where the substrate is
easily removable, tho still, as I say, evolving. Meanwhile, try Fabriano
Uno. I haven't done more than a quick gum test on it, which looked great
(the hotpress). But it had the least shrinkage of the 10 or so papers in
the test.
cheery Judy
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:06:42