Re: "speckling" v "staining " (was New Orleans/glut)

Katharine,
I think what you're terming "speckling" is what I would term "spots" or
"measles". Speckling in my experience is fine, regular, minute pinprick
spots that look like grain.

The image you have on your website of
mine is not what I'm referring to in these couple recent posts.
 I used to add a pan of boiling water to the shrink bath
WHILE I was shrinking, to keep the water hot (doh). There was paper in the
bathtub, and what happened is the hot water melted the internal
size of the paper unevenly where the hotter water hit the paper unevenly,
especially because I had quite a stack of paper in there at one time. Now
that I have switched to a lukewarm shrink bath, I don't
see that problem anymore. It was a dumb mistake on my part, for sure, but I
didn't know size was as fragile at that time.

I don't see that problem when brushing on a hot size of boiled gelatin,
though--on FAEW, of course, which could be the reason why.

As far as glyoxal yellowing, I and others have reported time and again that
once yellowed, it doesn't leave, even with extended soaking (e.g. a day). I
think it is great you tested this with a few sheets of paper, being that you
don't size usually, as you have said. Over a period of time working with
glyoxal you can develop a better data base of how it responds as a size.
Some over a period of time working with the stuff think it's great. I
don't.

Which leads me to my real problem with glyoxal is not the yellowing, but
that it doesn't do the job it is supposed to in my experience--keep the
highlights clear and white. That is not just with my work, but with
students that have used it as size of choice at MSU. Hence my quest for a
problem-free hardening agent to teach with next semester.

The gritty feel of it, both on Rives and FAEW, in comparison to glut, seems
to create more staining than hold back staining. I have extensively worked
with it these last two years, as I was using glut and gly side by side with
probably about 100 gum prints (large) of glyoxal with all the rest of the
glut sized ones, as I was switching over and comparing.

Judy, I thought the white speckles with cyanotype, years ago on this list,
was a factor of brushing/abrading the paper and some of the paper fibers
were not coated with solution? The speckles to which I refer are always
colored, never white.

I don't have a comparison of toxicity of the two agents, which I wish I did,
and can't remember if someone posted as such in the past. All I remember is
that one poster made the very good point that glyoxal is NOT a safe
chemical, either. So why are we hanging over a TRAY of the stuff as an
afterbath??

In the next couple months I want to finalize my decision on size of choice
to teach next semester--I may end up teaching acrylic, for all I know! It's
not like the students can size outside in the winter in MT..and as a prof I
want to be verrry on top of toxicity issues.
chris
Received on Mon Sep 5 09:00:24 2005