> Judy said: I have seen several references to "formalin" in early 20th
century
> literature, one might even have been Demachy.
Out of, let's say, 50 sizing recipes before the 1940's, only 5 were
formalin/formaldehyde hardened. Demachy did not size, or, at least, he
never felt the need to do so, he says. However, I found later a reference
to his size for oil printing--gelatin hardened with chrome alum.
Use of formaldehyde was as far back as 1900, though (Abbott).
There are many size recipes I have compiled, just for interest. Starch,
gelatin, gum, even fish glue and methylated spirit combined, and venice
turpentine, elmer's glue, gesso, acrylic, etc. etc. Many of the size
recipes for starch and gelatin do not have an added hardener, but the most
common hardener is chrome alum.
The first mention I have of a problem with chrome alum, aside from
graininess or shrinking paper, is Crawford in 1979. Then a number of other
authors ditto this: Scopick, Arnow, Reeves, James, etc.
I don't know where this info came from first (in other words, what
Crawford's source is, as I think the subsequent authors may have sourced
him, at least, Scopick did). Anyone have any more info on the archivalness
of chrome alum?
Chris
Received on Fri Jul 16 23:27:19 2004
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