Fuck. I've made this mistake before and I don't want to make it again. When mounting paper onto museum board or wood, there IS NO REPLACEMENT for matte medium.
I was almost out of matte medium so I used a mix of matte medium and clear gesso instead. F-. Two days of transferring down the drain. The problem with clear gesso is that it's grainy texture just doesn't cement paper to other substrates the way matte medium does, leaving large bubbles that appear when the front of the paper gets wet.
Learn from my mistake. Clear gesso is fine for the front, but only matte medium does the trick on the back.
Alright, time to re-transfer "The Bird" all over again. FML.
9 comments:
Matte medium, like the kind in an aerosol can? You can use that on the back of the paper as an adhesive to mount it onto wood?
I'm with ya....I'm had those moments too. Well all of your new stuff is amazing and I love seeing your work. it brings happiend even while in a dark cubical
Sorry, sometimes it posts my answers under the name "blah." I'll repost under my account... Here was my answer for Aaron:
Matte Medium is an acrylic painting medium that I use to adhere paper to more rigid materials to give the paper structural integrity so it doesn't buckle, warp, or decay once paint is applied to it. It comes in a plastic bottle and you apply it with a brush.
For mounting on wood you need to seal the wood before you mount the paper to it, so that the acid from the wood doesn't yellow or erode the paper. Then use matte medium, applied evenly but not so thin that it dries before bonding to the paper, as a kind of glue in between the wood and the paper. Smooth the paper throughly with your hands to work out any bubbles and even out the medium, then put books on the wood to weigh it down and let it dry for at least 4 hours, preferably over night.
Once the paper is adhered to the wood, if you are painting in oil you must also coat the front with something like clear gesso, matte medium, layers of spray fix and varnish... something to protect the paper from the erosive quality of oil paint.
It helps to make the paper larger than the wood, so you can trim the excess away with an Xacto-knife and then use sandpaper (moving only in the direction from above the paper toward the wood) to smooth the edges and prevent any tabs of paper from getting caught and lifting off the wood in the future.
Phew.
More tips:
Apply the matte medium to the rigid surface, not to the paper so the moisture doesn't have time to warp it before it has structural integrity.
When mounting really big pieces of paper, it may seem like a good idea to apply the matte medium a little at a time and roll the paper down in sections so the matte medium is till wet... but don't. The moisture will make the paper expand unevenly and you will end up with air bubbles. Instead, coat the whole rigid surface with matte medium once, and then go back over it with another quick, even layer to ensure that every single area still has wet matte medium for the paper to stick to. Then line up one side of the paper (get a friend to help if the paper is really big) and quickly roll down the rest. Immediately cover the paper with a clean thin protective paper like butcher paper and run your hands over the whole surface for a couple minutes to smooth out any air bubbles and ensure that there are no wrinkles (pay special attention to corners and edges.) Then stack books over the entire surface, especially on corners and edges and leave it for at least 4 hours, but preferably over night.
When the piece is mounted, trim away the excess
THIS IS IMPORTANT:
Use Matte Medium. Nothing else works as well.
A good synthetic brush, at least 3 inches will make your life easier and won't shed as many hairs that will cause bumps in the paper once it's mounted. (They are like 10$ at Blick.)
Use a heavy paper, like Rives, Somerset, or my personal favorite, Stonehenge. Thin paper will ripple unless it's a small piece and you are fast/deft/lucky.
Do your drawing before you mount the paper. The main benefit of this whole method for me is that it allows me to light-box transfer a drawing instead of using transfer paper which I hate. Even if you like to free-draw it often works better if the paper has not been exposed to moisture (matte medium.) When the paper has been mounted, spray the drawing with workable fix, and then brush on clear gesso or matte medium to protect the paper from oil paint or acrylic paint. If you are working in watercolor or gouache or markers or if you just really like working with the texture of the paper you can skip this step. (Oil paint is particularly corrosive to paper so steps must be taken to protect it somehow if you work in this media... I've found that a liberal spraying of Kamar varnish works well, but I don't know how archival it is in the long long long term.)
You can mount on any hard surface, but I recommend museum board (it will have to be framed with glass/plexi when it's done) or cradled board (wood with a 2" deep frame that will only need d-rings when it's done.)
Sorry for the long answer. I've done this so many times and refined the process through so much trial and error...
Also (I get this question a lot) I draw with Prisma Colorase pencils. They are erasable color pencils that have a wonderful range of line quality and don't smudge as badly as graphite, but also aren't waxy like regular Prismacolor pencils. I also recommend an electric eraser. It seems wimpy, but they are just so precise and effective, and won't smear your lines or leave skidmarks from previous use (he he he) you know what I mean.
The first reply was fine but this is even better. I'm looking into doing some quick oil paint works on paper and this process is fascinating to me. Everything you talked about I followed pretty well the only thing i didn't know about was museum board. I'm an avid oil painter usually using hardboard cradled with pine to make the panels for my paintings. Hardboard is like a denser version of masionite.
So in the idea that I wanted to mount the paper onto the hardboard I just got some questions.
One side of hardboard looks treated, like it's shiny and such. Is this what you meant by sealing it? Or should I like shellac the wood to completely seal it.
Another question would be if you think it's a good idea to cradle the wood even though it's just paper being adhered to it. I though sense maybe sense it's only the paper putting the pressure on the wood, there wouldn't be as much of a rick of warping. However, after typing all though, it's probably good to stay cautious and cradle it anyway.
The list of your materials was interesting. I'm not nearly as precise with my underlying drawings, but hearing about electric erasers and museum board was intriguing.
From what I hear about oil painting over fixatives and such materials are that the archival quality is severely compromised, where something happens and the oil paint cracks over the seal... or maybe the fixative cracks. Something happens within a couple of years supposedly.
Either way I'm not that hung up on archival-ness.
Thank you for taking the time to explain everything you do. I"m excited to try out this process, and the insights you have provided, let alone the idea, is very much appreciated.
Hello Aaron:
I’m not sure about the hardboard. I think you would have to ask someone more knowledgeable about that specific material to find out whether the shiny side would leak acid into the paper. When I mount on masonite I just spray-gesso or spray-prime it first. My main concern as far as archivalness is the integrity of the paper not the possibility of yellowing, so most of the precautions I take are focused on preserving that.
I would say you only need to cradle the hardwood if you don’t want to frame it and you want to just display it as is. If this is the case you should build the cradle before you mount the paper on it so you can countersink the nails and you don’t have to worry about fucking up the paper while gluing/ nailing/ leveling/ sanding the cradle. Of course, I don’t know how thick your hardboard is, but if it’s anything like standard masonite it should provide more than enough integrity for the paper. If you choose to frame the piece, allot a couple of inches of border around the image for a matt to sit on and get glass cut (or plexi for large pieces) to keep it all sandwiched flat. (Chances are you will need a custom frame unless you buy the frame ahead of time and size you painting accordingly.)
Yes, oil painting over paper that has only been treated with fixative severely compromises the archival quality of the piece and can result in yellowing or deterioration of the paper in just a few years. That’s why I recommend using clear gesso over the paper... though in the past I have used a combination of fixative, spray varnish, and acrylic mediums to prep the paper and so far I have had no problems as long as I paint thin. That said... just be safe and use clear gesso.
Best of luck! Let me know how this method works out and if you gain any new insights as you try it that I might find useful.
Thank you for getting back with me, I was sitting here with the cradled wood not sure what to do.
I will share my results with you of course when I"m done. Thank you once again.
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