RE: dichromate stain

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, Kate Mahoney wrote:
> But tell me, if you cleared between coats, say if you decided to add
> another layer after you thought you were through with a print, would the
> clearing affect subsequent layers??? Someone out there must know this!!

Kate, AFAIK the only effect would/could be if the clearing bath caused
additional shrinking of the paper so subsequent re-register failed. I
haven't tested this, and would suppose how well shrunken & carefully dried
your paper had been at the outset would be factors.

Another reason for doing that would be to check the *actual* color before
calling it quits.

There is a great deal of not-speaking as one in the matter of clearing ...
for instance early books called for an alum bath, middle earth books said
alum could degrade color & paper, late life books seem non-committal. And,
for what it's worth, I can report that in only ONE case have I ever found
a dichromate stain that didn't clear in simply a long long water soak.
True, during that long soak the pigment softens, if I chose to, I could
scrape it off... but I didn't, usually.

I also note that Demachy said if you want to clear highlights or other
areas from a dry print, give a long soak in water and rub gently with
cotton (or other) twist. I've done that -- it does work, but requires a
VERY delicate touch not to show.

J.
Received on Tue Jun 15 13:26:40 2004