Monday, January 23, 2017

Post 39: Still not sure, just one more study...

    I am concerned that the blues are going to turn too dark to give me sufficient contrast with the solarized images of the model, so I am going to make a small test panel. 
    I received the Smooth Heavy Durt Mulberry Chinese paper I had ordered from amazon. It is about 70 lbs, and the sheets are actually 18" x 27", instead of 22" x 30". It has no deckles either, and comes folded over twice, may be that explains the ridiculously low price for at least 100 sheets... I tried to flatten it under weights and clamps, but got nowhere. Actually, it doesn't really matter, since I am going to wrap it around the 17" x 22" sheet of thin cardboard that came with the Epson paper for  printing, so it doesn't buckle and tear. It is thick enough, lays flat, and is transparent enough that wax should make it clear.
     But first I want to do a test print on each side of the sheet to see which is best, so I cut two 9.5" x 13"  , and taped them to 8.5" x 11' sheets of Epson Matte around the back, marking which side was which. I cut the image down to size in Photoshop, and printed it on both. It turns out the side of the paper that is turned in(I assume the front) gives better detail in the blacks.


    I will do a small Study/Test on a 12" x12" panel primed with the same absorbent ground. First, I paint the edges black, and put a coat of black wax on top.
   A piece of 1/2" tape will leave line between ochres and blues. I worked in the colors with pigments and pastels more or less like the big panel, put a couple of coats of clear medium on, fused them, and scraped back. I then applied the cutout images on tissue, rolled them in with a brayer, covered them with clear medium, and fused. Looks like it's going to be fine:


    Here it is after scraping and polishing:


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