Sealing plywood boards
the_...@yahoo.com
stretching watercolor paper.
I have so far used one coat of Varathane on both sides and the edges.
I assume one coat is sufficient because the point is only so that
moisture is not leached out of the paper before it can stretch.
comments welcome
sarp
Mani Deli
favorite of the latest Modern Academic artists. This guy has got
something.
A Modern Academic Artist must have a style strictly associated with
his name. That style must look like an original put-on. It must be
minimal and at the same time different enough to irritate anyone who
is not an acolyte of the Modern Academic Art religion to say, in one
way or another, "what is this piece of crap? Twombly is
ultra-provocative in this sense.
The vast majority of Modern academic Artists must share their niche
with other occupants. Twombly has a single occupancy niche. Even the
greatest holys like Picasso or Matisse share there niche with a load
of minor occupants. Indeed minor occupants occupy the cheaper areas
but they live in the same apartment complex. Take the "field"
painters for example. Rheinhardt, Still's, and Rothko
all have to share their niche space with a slew of minor patzers who
produce the same crap.
(see the artzy fartzy magazines)
However no one who producing the same crap as Twombly has any chance
of winning in the great Modern Art lottery. Anyone who sees an
imitation of his work immediately classifies it as an imitation. I
can name only three artists who have this quality, Mondrian, Pollock
and Twombly.
Of these I vastly prefer Twombly because he has early secret technique
which makes him a little harder to imitate. Twombly's secret lies in
his knowledge of graffiti. He schmiers colors underneath his chicken
scratches and assorted grade school scrawl. This is seen by Modern
Academic Art practitioners as a brilliant technical innovation. The
result is that Twombly gets wealthy while other artists stay poor.
Bravo Twombly for advancing to large scribbles and still impressing
the boobs who run the modern sections of museums. But remember,
without the coveted signature his the stuff would be as worthless as
wrapping paper.
opu...@gmail.com
I would go for two coats on the Varathane. Most of the first coat is
going to be absorbed into the wood. Epoxy is a better barrier. More
expensive though.
Opus23
skookum.etsy.com
Dan Druff
the_...@yahoo.com says...
>I assume one coat is sufficient because the point is only so that
>moisture is not leached out of the paper before it can stretch.
Well, since you seem to now be preparing to "stretch"
your paper, I think you need to understand what the
actual physical effect of soaking the paper is. The
term "stretching" refers to what happens when the paper
dries out AFTER it has been soaked in water.
The soaking saturates the cotton fibers (assuming
you're using a 100 percent rag paper - Arches for example).
As the fibers soak up water, they swell and the paper
thereby changes dimensions slightly. It's not something
you're going to be able to see. Once the paper has
soaked up all the water it possibly can - it's as wet
as it ever will be and this is important:
It's wetter than it will ever get again during normal
watercolor application!
Once it's soaked, you let it dry while CONSTRAINING
it during the drying process - tape, staple or otherwise
attach it to a rigid backing. As the paper dries from
the fully swollen state it STRETCHES (but only if it
is constrained!).
So whether or not your backing board is sealed isn't
all that important. Once you put the paper on the
board, the point is to dry it out again, so any moisture
that migrates into the backing is going to hasten
that process - BUT it could cause the backing to
warp - so sealing it isn't a bad idea after all.
I personally prefer using heavy duty corrugated
cardboard (3/4 inches thick) as my backing board and
the paper packaging tape (kind that requires wetting
the adhesive) for gluing down my paper. The reason
I prefer the paper tape and the water soluble glue
is because once the watercolor is completed, I can
soak the paper tape with a sponge loaded with water
and the glue will re-dissolve, thereby allowing me
to remove every last trace of the tape/glue from the
boarder around the paper. Others will simply use a
razor blade or craft knife to cut the watercolor
paper along the edge of the tape - not me.
Dan Druff
says...
For those who have buckled paper who would prefer
it to lie flat, you can SAFELY re-soak the
paper even after FINISHED PAINTING. If done
gently, you'll be surprised how little of the
watercolor is disturbed (lifts from the paper).
Don't try this with a "masterpiece" but with a
finished work that you can experiment with.
Gently insert the finished work into a CLEAN
water bath - let it soak until it is once again
fully flexible and will lie flat, and then
let it dry lying flat - either without constraint,
or with constraint. In either case, it should be
flatter than it was before. I prefer to dry it
on a sheet of glass without constraint.