Re: Using alum to size for gum

Dan Shapiro (dan@good.stanford.edu)
Mon, 24 Jul 95 12:27:27 -0700

Does anyone know the chemistry of the chrome, or potassium alum
hardening reaction? It sounds suspiciously like the light-catalyzed
reaction we use in making gum prints.

If the point of sizing is to make paper fibers resistant to staining and
expansion/shrinkage with water, could you, in principle, size paper
using dichromated gelatine, exposed without a negative?

My intuition is telling me that quality/predictability will be enhanced
if we can reduce the number of chemical agents involved in making gum
prints.

Dan Shapiro