Two panels have been in deep freeze at 2°F overnight. I took them out and threw them on the tile floor hard, and again and again, harder and harder. I then smacked them as hard as I could on the top of the work bench, over and over, till my hands hurt and the panels themselves split.
NOTHING CAME LOOSE, I PASSED THE FREEZER TEST, ALLELUIA!
The first panel was masonite primed with Golden Absorbent Acrylic Gesso, one strip rubbed with blue pigment and coated with medium, 3 strips painted with Red Yellow and Ochre tinted medium and scraped back thin and smooth(no milkiness). Some areas were thicker than others, some were fused, some not.
The second was the basic white primed (I assume acrylic based) Plywood Underlayment sanded smooth, partly lightly, partly very heavily(almost down to the wood. Half of the panel was primed with Holly Grail Gesso. I then rubbed in pigments of different colors, coated the whole thing with medium, and fused it.
The other unprimed side was sanded smooth to remove the black cross cut marks and primed with Holly Grail Gesso. Two stripes were rubbed with Ultramarine blue pigment and shaded from dark to light using the white powder of the gesso, coated with medium and scraped back. One was fused, the other not. The middle stripe is just clear medium on gesso, the right half fused, the left not, and scraped smooth. The last stripe is Red Ochre colored medium scraped back very thin in places to show the background in transparency.
So it would seem that some people may be worrying excessively about adhesion. As I said before, from my experience, wax sticks to damn nearly EVERYTHING.
Nothing came loose AT ALL, so it would seem it doesn't matter that much after all which Gesso is used, and that even the Primed Underlayment Plywood is fine once sanded smooth and given a tooth. Even fusing doesn't seem to matter either, even with the chalky Holly Grail Primer.
Now, the reasons for my successful "Freezer Test" may be due in part to the technique I use of scraping the wax back thin and smooth, and in the process putting enormous pressure that improves adhesion to the substrate. The test may have failed had I built up numerous layers of medium, grooved and filled, etc...
But for what I am planning to do, I think I am going to quit worrying, stop all that preliminary testing, and go to work on an actual panel. Before tackling a big 4ft x 6ft , I will do a small 24" x36' version of "MUG SHOTS" on a sanded underlayment plywood panel double primed with thinned(to minimize brush marks) Golden Absorbent Acrylic Gesso and sanded very smooth:
NOTHING CAME LOOSE, I PASSED THE FREEZER TEST, ALLELUIA!
The first panel was masonite primed with Golden Absorbent Acrylic Gesso, one strip rubbed with blue pigment and coated with medium, 3 strips painted with Red Yellow and Ochre tinted medium and scraped back thin and smooth(no milkiness). Some areas were thicker than others, some were fused, some not.
The second was the basic white primed (I assume acrylic based) Plywood Underlayment sanded smooth, partly lightly, partly very heavily(almost down to the wood. Half of the panel was primed with Holly Grail Gesso. I then rubbed in pigments of different colors, coated the whole thing with medium, and fused it.
The other unprimed side was sanded smooth to remove the black cross cut marks and primed with Holly Grail Gesso. Two stripes were rubbed with Ultramarine blue pigment and shaded from dark to light using the white powder of the gesso, coated with medium and scraped back. One was fused, the other not. The middle stripe is just clear medium on gesso, the right half fused, the left not, and scraped smooth. The last stripe is Red Ochre colored medium scraped back very thin in places to show the background in transparency.
So it would seem that some people may be worrying excessively about adhesion. As I said before, from my experience, wax sticks to damn nearly EVERYTHING.
Nothing came loose AT ALL, so it would seem it doesn't matter that much after all which Gesso is used, and that even the Primed Underlayment Plywood is fine once sanded smooth and given a tooth. Even fusing doesn't seem to matter either, even with the chalky Holly Grail Primer.
Now, the reasons for my successful "Freezer Test" may be due in part to the technique I use of scraping the wax back thin and smooth, and in the process putting enormous pressure that improves adhesion to the substrate. The test may have failed had I built up numerous layers of medium, grooved and filled, etc...
But for what I am planning to do, I think I am going to quit worrying, stop all that preliminary testing, and go to work on an actual panel. Before tackling a big 4ft x 6ft , I will do a small 24" x36' version of "MUG SHOTS" on a sanded underlayment plywood panel double primed with thinned(to minimize brush marks) Golden Absorbent Acrylic Gesso and sanded very smooth:
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