Re: Possibly the silliest Gum question ever!

Hi Katherine,

Yes I've tried it. It was a battle of wits and the paper won!

Talbot is, I believe, a close relative of Buxton designed by Mike Ware
and produced by Ruscombe Mill. It is heavier at 240 gsm and heavily
sized with gelignite. Yes, it blew! At least for me.

Out of the box the paper is beautiful smooth, white and crisp and
delicate looking. It is a hand-made paper and sells for around 10 bucks
a pop plus delivery.

If I were an expert gummmy bear I would be able to make beautiful single
coat gum prints on it but alas and alack, 'tis wasted on me.

Due to the heavy gelatine sizing I tried just hardening that which came
with the paper using Formaldehyde. It didn't work. Quelle surprise. The
gelatine was inconsistent, some sheets having 'snail trails' of gum
across the surface.

Nextly, I hot soaked the paper for about, oh, 30 minutes. It doesn't
like hot soaks. When I grabbed the paper, the corner came clean off.

Next a long overnight cold soak. This was fine. No problem except that
the paper had become totally translucent. I could see my fingers through
the paper but it was still strong enough to hang on the washing line.
BUT, it didn't dry flat at all. It didn't just curl, it became distorted
in every direction. When I taped it down to coat it (all four edges) it
bellied up. This happened even after double sizing and formaldehyde
hardener.

When coating you need to be faster than a Norwegian Racing Sardine 'cos
then it buckles as the colour is applied. I ain't that fast..Only after
about 4 coats of gum and development does it start to settle down.

Another wonderful feature of this paper is that it sinks during
development. Excellent! I developed face up which worked reasonably well
but obviously not to be recommended. Some kind of flotation device is
needed.

This is definitely a paper for the pros., not for people such as I.

I may try it again after about 5 or 10 years of experience but I do
think you experts should give it a go. especially for that 'Special'
picture.

Regards,

David H
Received on Sat Oct 29 07:28:11 2005