RE: paper shrinkage

Chris,

I'll get in a few remarks before the real experts weigh in on the
subject...

Paper that is mould (or hand) made is formed by a specific shaking
method (couch, pronounced cooch) that distributes or aligns the
paper's fibers in different directions as it settles into the mould.
These fibers are pulled into the mould (screen) upwards out of the
water/fiber vat. This creates a "grain" in two directions and
shrinkage is proportional to the amount of the distribution of this
grain. Most machine-made papers have grain in only one direction, but
it is possible to have more grain in a single direction than another;
it depends on this couching action to distribute the fibers into
opposite directions. This also helps to create a stronger paper. I'm
lost when it comes to the rationale for internal sizing, so I'm here
to learn too.

later

Darryl

-----Original Message-----
From: Christina Z. Anderson [mailto:zphoto@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Sat 5/8/2004 12:00 PM
To: Alt List
Subject: paper shrinkage
 
Good morning!
     I was thinking about paper shrinkage yesterday...Judy had said
that all
papers do not shrink the same (and shrunk differentially in subsequent
soakings). In the old literature they put it this way: that some
papers
were not "suitable" because they were not dimensionally stable. I
never
took the time, as Judy did, to shrink and compare measurement after
measurement of different papers to prove this point, as I found it to
happen
in practice. I had such a b--ch of a time with aquarelle with
registration,
and had to devise a whole new method of registering because of it.
Even
then, the paper would not completely fit the neg, so I had to figure
out
where the misregistration would be least noticeable. This was also
with
using the hair dryer technique to dry it more so that it would shrink
to
fit. I never experienced this before so chronically with other papers,
and
with papers alongside aquarelle that I shrunk the same way, used the
same
way, same amount of times, sized the same, etc.
     (I also remember someone--I think Judy--posting that you could
"fudge"
it with a pencil, coloring in to mask the misregistration, and also
that
more repeated layers would serve to hide the misregistration. So it's
not a
lost cause when it happens, just requires more work.)
     However, when I was working with Artistico I did not see it
shrink that
much in the first shrink, and thinking about aquapel (or whatever may
be in
the new Artistico), maybe some *sizings* are more dimensionally stable
as
Jack suggested...I have not had the registration nightmare so far with
that
paper, and hopefully it will stay that way through multiple layers
(I'm
crossing my fingers). Those of you paper makers like Tom Ferguson,
maybe
you have opinions on this? Or is it something else, like the type of
fibers,
or the tightness of the fiber?
Chris