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conquistadors -- paper considerations
May. 20th, 2001 03:39 pmPaper. If anything is my god nowadays, it is paper. A blessed substance, our lives are altered irreparably by it. Even in this world of digital technology, online rants, ICQ, IM, usenet, email and ebooks, nothing has entirely spelled the death of paper. Put something on paper, and it has the ring of truth, a finality to it. Unlike an e-journal, paper can be held, revered, rubbed, a tactile sensation, a physical connection between author and reader, artist and appreciator.
(Whether a website has the same ring of truth to it, is a debate for another day. I think it is far too easy to find whatever opinion you want on the web, supported or not, and take some fancy formatting and make it look legitimate, sanctioned, true. Do it well enough, and the mainstream will grab it and run with it.)
I'm also aware of paper on another level. It's metaphorical representation as the "infinite." Paper really is god, at least to an artist, in that it represents the void from which anything can be drawn. When choosing to open a new file in Photoshop, you are presented with a blank field of pixels, receptive to your marks, true, but nothing like the responsibility, the weight one feels when pulling a sheet of hand made Fabriano from a drawer, and being presented with it's blank, pristine glory. When Picasso pulled a sheet from his drawer, he shaped it into "The Rape."
Plus there is the literal care that must be taken, with paper, the actual ritual of reverence. My chosen art is printing, and I deal with the most caustic and marring substances imaginable, I handle acids, bases, bleaches, dyes, charcoals, cinders, ground metals, and pigmented inks on an hourly basis, and in the midst of it, I must take great care to ensure that the paper remains as pure as when it was pulled from the mold. A fingerprint in the wrong place takes my work from accomplished to amateur. So I attempt to address my paper in the morning, before I've done anything else. I ensure that it always lives on a clean surface, and I don't even trust my hands, preferring to handle the paper with clean gloves. (Sometimes gripping with smaller strips of paper, to ensure stray marks end up on the "tongs" not the work.) And throughout the day, when i am finished with the plate and ready to print, i stop and clean my hands obsessively, and then use gloves to handle the paper once more.
So chosing the paper for this work is important in that regard, it's almost a holy thing. SO in preparation I went to Utrecht, the University Book Store and Daniel Smith Artist's supply to see the types of paper available. Since I have no letter-press, I can not address the text on the work in any manner OTHER than a laser printer. This is sad. Had I a letter press, or even the lead type used in a letter press, I could set and print the type myself. But in this day and age of computers, lead-type is dead, and almost impossible to obtain. (If you know of anyone wishing to rid themselves of lead type, please put them in touch with me immediately.) Being forced to deal with a laser printer means that i can use no paper thicker than card stock, and since most papers designed for etching are at least that thick, I am forced to abandon my traditional favorites. (I prefer Somerset white, a cheap british machine made paper, and Fabriano Rustico, a hand-made Italian paper of exceptional quality.) I can consider the finer Japanese hand made papers made of Kozo fibers, like Hosho Pro, Mulberry, or Kitikata, but their expense puts it out of reach of this project, and traditionally, etching papers must be soaked. An unsized paper contains no glue, and will disintegrate like toilet paper in the bath. It is possible to print on these papers, and even to etch on them, but this is a tricky prospect, and an expensive one.
Instead, I've found a light, tough, thin, and fully sized stationary paper, designed for calligraphy and stationary (very finest stationary mind you, the type of thing martha stewart writes thank you notes with,) that has a considerable tooth, sufficient for etching, called "Strathmore Writing." It's also (comparatively) cheap. (Fabriano is $4.20 a sheet, my source tells me Strathmore is more like $3.20 a sheet. A sheet is roughly 24" x 32" it varies from paper to paper.) The problem now is, I can't find any. There is not much call for a full sheet of calligraphy paper, it's sold mostly in notepads, which aren't big enough for my needs. (I've yet to look everywhere, but I am considering that I may be forced to work with the Japanese products after all.)
(Whether a website has the same ring of truth to it, is a debate for another day. I think it is far too easy to find whatever opinion you want on the web, supported or not, and take some fancy formatting and make it look legitimate, sanctioned, true. Do it well enough, and the mainstream will grab it and run with it.)
I'm also aware of paper on another level. It's metaphorical representation as the "infinite." Paper really is god, at least to an artist, in that it represents the void from which anything can be drawn. When choosing to open a new file in Photoshop, you are presented with a blank field of pixels, receptive to your marks, true, but nothing like the responsibility, the weight one feels when pulling a sheet of hand made Fabriano from a drawer, and being presented with it's blank, pristine glory. When Picasso pulled a sheet from his drawer, he shaped it into "The Rape."
Plus there is the literal care that must be taken, with paper, the actual ritual of reverence. My chosen art is printing, and I deal with the most caustic and marring substances imaginable, I handle acids, bases, bleaches, dyes, charcoals, cinders, ground metals, and pigmented inks on an hourly basis, and in the midst of it, I must take great care to ensure that the paper remains as pure as when it was pulled from the mold. A fingerprint in the wrong place takes my work from accomplished to amateur. So I attempt to address my paper in the morning, before I've done anything else. I ensure that it always lives on a clean surface, and I don't even trust my hands, preferring to handle the paper with clean gloves. (Sometimes gripping with smaller strips of paper, to ensure stray marks end up on the "tongs" not the work.) And throughout the day, when i am finished with the plate and ready to print, i stop and clean my hands obsessively, and then use gloves to handle the paper once more.
So chosing the paper for this work is important in that regard, it's almost a holy thing. SO in preparation I went to Utrecht, the University Book Store and Daniel Smith Artist's supply to see the types of paper available. Since I have no letter-press, I can not address the text on the work in any manner OTHER than a laser printer. This is sad. Had I a letter press, or even the lead type used in a letter press, I could set and print the type myself. But in this day and age of computers, lead-type is dead, and almost impossible to obtain. (If you know of anyone wishing to rid themselves of lead type, please put them in touch with me immediately.) Being forced to deal with a laser printer means that i can use no paper thicker than card stock, and since most papers designed for etching are at least that thick, I am forced to abandon my traditional favorites. (I prefer Somerset white, a cheap british machine made paper, and Fabriano Rustico, a hand-made Italian paper of exceptional quality.) I can consider the finer Japanese hand made papers made of Kozo fibers, like Hosho Pro, Mulberry, or Kitikata, but their expense puts it out of reach of this project, and traditionally, etching papers must be soaked. An unsized paper contains no glue, and will disintegrate like toilet paper in the bath. It is possible to print on these papers, and even to etch on them, but this is a tricky prospect, and an expensive one.
Instead, I've found a light, tough, thin, and fully sized stationary paper, designed for calligraphy and stationary (very finest stationary mind you, the type of thing martha stewart writes thank you notes with,) that has a considerable tooth, sufficient for etching, called "Strathmore Writing." It's also (comparatively) cheap. (Fabriano is $4.20 a sheet, my source tells me Strathmore is more like $3.20 a sheet. A sheet is roughly 24" x 32" it varies from paper to paper.) The problem now is, I can't find any. There is not much call for a full sheet of calligraphy paper, it's sold mostly in notepads, which aren't big enough for my needs. (I've yet to look everywhere, but I am considering that I may be forced to work with the Japanese products after all.)
