Re: aquapel sizing was Re: silvery sheen & fisheyes

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:

> These are manufacturers sizings, altho I have heard that you can buy aquapel
> some places. Check Ware's argyrotype article at his website. It was
> definitely said by him, either there or in the literature that came with my
> initial stuff I bought thru Freestyle in the kit.
> Chris
>
> > > To get specific, Ware says sizing should be aquapel or alkyletene (sp)
> > > dimer

If you want to buy Aquapel, I bought mine at TALAS, but that was years
ago, they may have other materials now. TALAS was/is mostly purveyor of
conservation & library materials... But in my experience, this is another
one of Ware's findings that didn't, um, how shall I put this.... reveal
itself in my studio.

I think the difference is probably whether the material is IN the paper
(as it is in Buxton, which I adore for gum printing & just laid out mucho
dinero to treat myself to another few sheets) or ON the paper. Or let me
say I tested Aquapel as a surface size on two papers (if memory serves,
Arches and Rives BFK) and literally discovered vanishing returns. That is,
I kept reducing the % of the solution. But Aquapel on the surface caused
emulsion coated on top of it to ball up (crawl in drops instead of
spreading smoothly).

I kept reducing the strength of the solution and finally got to (again
from memory) 1/2%, whereupon the paper showed no effect of sizing at all,
as apparent in comparison tests. I suppose you'd call that a VERY steep
curve.

Judy
Received on Thu Jan 8 14:33:57 2004