Re: Canson Fonteney and gum printing

On Mon, 7 Nov 2005, Breukel, C. (HKG) wrote:
> In the past I did some modest gum printing on Canson Fonteny, I use the
> smooth (back?) side not the rough textured side, and I have been quite
> happy with the results.
>
> Recently I bought a few sheets to make some gum prints, but this time I
> ran into a problem: After 4 coats the texture of the paper started to
> "raise"(for lack of a better description, as if the paper is showing
> through te gum layer), obscuring details in esp. the shadow regions.
> Can't say that I like that effect.
>

Cor, I've never printed with Canson Fontenay, tho my general experience is
that paper NOT sized & hardened is more likely to rough up with repeated
coats. (I usually reserve that for a one-coat print.)

However, here's a treatment I have used with some success when caught with
related problems ... it should be especially successful on a small print:
Have you got a steam iron? Put the paper between 2 sheets of some firm
smooth paper (maybe Permalife) and set the steam on low. Iron the paper
well and quickly put under a smooth weight to cool (say heavy glass under
weight). A drymount press might be capable of similar action, but I think
the dampening is more controllable by steam iron, where you can see it.

Then again, a gelatin size might do as well, except I'd worry that it
would shrink more.

Obviously, this requires a controlled variables test, tho you need to
start with a much bigger print so the difference is more obvious.

smiley,

Judy
Received on Tue Nov 8 13:37:57 2005