hot and cold press papers

Hi all,
     I just wanted to share my experiences with different papers, for what
it is worth.
     I had previously posted on the sinking of aquarelle to the bottom of
the tub when presoaking and shrinking my paper. It also held in moisture the
longest, so it took FOREVER to dry, unlike Uno and Artistico and Magnano.
It also had clear spots of uneven sizing, and some I soaked had dark areas
of what looked like stain. I thought for sure the aquarelle was going to be
a "never order again" paper.
     However, in side by side comparisons, having never worked before on
cold pressed papers and gum printing (before I only used Rives BFK which has
some slight surface texture but is not cold pressed) I am amazed at how much
detail you can get. For some reason, I thought the bumps in cold pressed
papers would create a softer image, and not so. In fact, there is more
depth to the image, but not less detail. I was using cold and hot in Uno,
Artistico, Aquarelle. Magano is bumpy, too.
     The aquarelle no longer sank to the bottom once sized with a hardened
gelatin layer.
     The one thing I found was that I had a much easier time getting an even
coating with no streaks with the cold pressed papers. This reminds me of
Charles Ryberg and one other person on the list who was having difficulty
streaking. Try cold pressed paper. Once I was past the first layer, the
hot pressed, smooth papers would streak more. The first layer never did,
tho, so somehow the buildup of hardened gum contributed to the streaking.
     Speaking of which, I was using the roller method on some, but could
only get an even layer on the first layer but not thereafter. I think I
need to make my gum solution thinner to use that method. Otherwise, I always
use a 3" hake brush.
     I'm trying to decide on a paper to stick with, and contrary to what I
was expecting, cold press may be it. Probably not aquarelle, as it does, as
Katharine says, smell bad. I liken it to wet dog. Plus the other problems
with it and uneven sizing etc. But it sure looks nice in a print...
Chris
Received on Wed Mar 31 06:33:28 2004