Re: gum-Spirts of Salts

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From: Sarah Van Keuren (svk@steuber.com)
Date: 02/06/00-12:56:50 PM Z


This is in answer to Don Bryant's question of 2/6. I tried to print
palladium on BFK Rives sized with gelatin and hardened in very dilute
formaldehyde* and found that the highlights turned an ugly yellow. I do not
recommend cyanotype or vandyke brown on paper sized that way because it is
usually unnecessary, depending on the paper. However, Don may be talking
about paper that is sized in gelatin but not hardened in formaldehyde. I
doubt that it would turn yellow.

Any uneveness of sizing as I do it will show up in the cyanotype and it
takes twice as long to expose it onto what is a basically plasticized
surface. I tried cyanotype on sized paper because I like to use it as the
first step, a sort of blue underpainting, before switching to gum layers. A
former student, Ellen Babb of New Jersey, had the brilliant idea of
preshrinking the BFK in hot water, printing the cyanotype layer and then
sizing the paper and proceeding with gum.

I have never had cause to size paper for vandyke. It prints beautifully on
untouched Arches Platine, Arches Cover, Strathmore 500 and Pondi paper from
India. It soaks into unsized BFK and pilling can occur from disturbing the
soft surface but some students and I have made satisfactory prints on it.

* I tried glyoxal and it was a mess - looked as if my paper had been dipped
in salad dressing. Could this be because I apply the gelatin to just one
side of the paper, applying it with sponge brushes? Maybe the paper has to
be entirely encased in gelatin to avoid the splotchiness.


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