My ESP (evil service provider) just cut me off -- it does that from time
to time -- I lose what I'm writing & have to log on again. But this time
I'm sure it was shock at that statement that communicated itself.
The BEST part about spray starch is that it discolors the paper in time.
The next best part is that the manufacturer changes formula at will and
without sending you an advisory. The third best part is that, as far as I
could tell, it does zilch. Now I have to say that I haven't tested spray
starch on virgin paper for gum. But I have tested it for several other
processes and on a half-finished gum print where I wanted a quick and
easy size. In the spirit of scientific inquiry I covered half the print,
spray starched the other half, and then coated all & exposed. The part
with the starch stained worse than the part without. That of course is
hardly a complete demo, but it did put me off spray starch.
I have also tested Elmer's glue -- full strength, half strength and 1/4
strength. The effect was repulsive. The midtones collapsed into 2, like
on or off, and the highlights had leprosy.
I have also tested liquitex gesso diluted, liquitex mat medium at
various dilutions, and several other "easy" replacements for
gelatine/formaldehyde. None of them was as good, in my opinion, as plain
paper, and none gave print quality that compared to plain paper or
gelatine size. Maybe there are ways of doing it that I didn't discover
(every day I know less and less, really, today I know less than I ever
knew in my life, sigh), but I am at this point VERY skeptical.
Maybe it's that tri-color printing that's letting Gini get away with
murder -- the 3 coats (or more) probably do supplement each other & kind
of make up for scale deficiencies. Gini do you use a gum-rich mix? I
wonder if you could do without that size altogether. (Have you tested that?)
As for shrinking, I measured about 5 different papers, then ran 3
variables on them -- just a shrink, shrink and gelatine, shrink &
gelatine and formaldehyde. What I found was that they all shrank the same
amount -- and tended to change again (unshrinking a hair, sometimes)
after they'd been wet the next time. This meant, as far as I could tell
that the vaunted "pre-shrink", before the gelatine size was just an
extra, unnecessary operation, and I eliminated it.
I find anyway, that I can't re-register anything on a relatively thin
paper (which I'm TRYING to use) unless it's fastened to a rigid surface.
More to follow, for sure........
Judy