Re: Help with what I believe is a hardening issue

Has anyone tried sizing with acrylic gesso? I've read many references
about it, but I have never tried it. It does sound appealling - no
hardening required ...

Gord

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004, ericawd wrote:

> I am mainly a lurker/gum printer who has learned a great deal from the list.
> I could use some advice.
>
> I am having the same problem described below by Judy Seigel. I have come to
> the conclusion that the problem is the fact that the formaldehyde I am using
> is approximately 3-5 years old and is no longer hardening. I have tried
> every avenue I could think of to replace it locally in Memphis, Tennessee to
> absolutely no avail. I used to buy it at a drug store, but one now needs a
> prescription in order to purchase it.
>
> Purchasing formaldehyde on line takes at least a week. I have a show coming
> up and need all the time I can to work on prints. The Formulary only sells
> glyoxal. I am a little desperate. I really can't afford losing a week of
> working.
>
> Some of the questions I have are:
>
> I use the shrink the paper, gelatin coating, harden, gelatin, final
> formaldehyde hardening method. I have several sheets of BFK at the final
> hardening stage and really don't want to waste the time and materials. The
> formaldehyde used in the third step was very weak. Can I come behind it
> with a soaking in glyoxal hardener? Or will I drop dead on the spot?
>
> Does anyone know of a source for formaldehyde? I have tried the local
> college, chemical companies (they carry it only in 55 gallon drums and as I
> said pharmacies. Is the prescription law a state law or fed law. I called
> a couple of places in northern Mississippi but couldn't find anyone who
> carried it in the first place in order to know if I could purchase there.
> Does anyone know if it is a federal law.
>
> I am fairly certain of the problem, since it got really bad when I mixed up
> "new" solution from the as of now very old formaldehyde. Does anyone know
> of another problem that could be causing the speckles. Everything else is
> as it was. (There is no pollen in my darkroom-there are no windows that
> open in my building, being in Memphis it is air conditioned or heated year
> round.
>
> Sorry for the long post, but as I said I am a little desperate.
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, May 04, 2004 8:53 PM Judy Seigel wrote:
>
> I had taught a gum workshop at ICP about 10 years ago, and a month later
> got a frantic call from one of the students: Her gum prints were coming
> out all speckled. She couldn't get any image at all, just speckling. So I
> told her to come over and we spent the afternoon, testing her paints on
> her paper, her paints on my paper, her gum on her paper, her gum on my
> paper, etc.... Though it didn't happen that neatly, but was some time
> before we formulated that method. Ultimately it became clear that ANY
> paints and any gum speckled on her paper. And not on mine. Finally, she
> had a thought: She'd gone to her home in Vermont and gelatin sized the
> paper there. While the paper (Rives BFK, BTW) was out all over the house
> freshly gelatined to dry, she noticed a strange kind of pollen in the
> air... settling as a yellow powder over everything.
>
> She sized new paper in town and had no further problems.
>
>
>
> Sorry for the long post, but as I said I am a little desperate.
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> Candace Spearman,
> Memphis, Tennessee
>

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Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology
holtsg@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place
http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan
Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2
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Received on Fri Nov 12 09:23:24 2004