From: Randall Webb (randall.webb@lineone.net)
Date: 02/06/00-10:48:37 AM Z
Judy asked about gelatine size. I must confess that I haven't been much concerned with size.
I usually leave that to the manufacturers and match the process to the paper. Of course if I make the paper myself it is by definition waterleaf or unsized. I'm too lazy to mess about with internal or tub sizing.Unless you are using it for etching or bromoil transfer it will fall apart with normal alt proc use. I sized recently some hand made Burmese paper which is made from the bark of a tree
which sheds its bark annually. It also has flower petals built in. However after gelatine sizing it is brittle as a biscuit.
Paper makers usually supply details such as what size is used ( gelatine, starch ,Aquapel etc)
and at what degree of hardness.
I've tried the usual alternatives such as rabbit skin glue ( luckily we ran out of rabbits-it makes a multi coated gum as stiff as a board), household spray starch,arrowroot,albumen, albumen/
arrowroot etc. Now it looks as if I shall have to visit my favourite supplier near the British Museum in London and investigate the gum arabic situation.
But seriously this leads on to a wider discussion of paper. Dick Arentz of Flagstaff Arizona
and the greatest pt/pd printer on the planet - ever- once said that if anything goes wrong with a pt/pd print it is usually the fault of the paper. It is probably true for most other processes.
Can I recommend to anyone who is interested two books which are essential for all paper freaks.
1 What Paper by Sylvie Turner pub.1991 by Estamp - London £12 sterling
2 A Book of Fine Paper by the same author pub by Thames and Hudson 1998 London £40
They are stuffed with information. However she does refer to Wiulliam Crawford as William Ivens.
<snip>
Randall, SURELY commercial printers in the UK use ready-mixed
"lithographers' gum, 14 degrees baume" which comes with the preservative
already in it...(& sells in this country for $16/gallon). But maybe they
call it something else, like paraffin or marmelade ?
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