Coating large sheets of paper- Best way?

[patrickjames]

I have been gearing up for a little (big) project which will probably start out with cyanotypes. The size will be rather large at least 17" by whatever on the long side. I have been thinking about coating the paper and the idea of brushing is not appealing to me. I don't see getting an even coat an easy thing. Puddle pusher is a little more attractive, but keeping a sheet this size level would be a problem I would think. That leaves me with immersing the paper. I am basically flying blind at this point so if anyone wants to chime in with their opinion I am all ears. How do you do it?

Patrick

 

[Ian Leake]

The only alt process prints of that size that I've seen "in the flesh" were pt/pd. Both artists used brushes and the prints I saw were single coated. The coating quality was phenomenal, so it definitely can be done with a brush. Good luck

 

[Guillaume Zuili]

Patrick,
I'm doing 16x20 Van Dyke and I have no trouble with double coating with brush. I use a simple and cheap hake brush.
Best,
Guillaume

 

[Donsta]

A brush works fine. Be way easier than a "puddle pusher" - have you thought about how unflat a piece of 17inch wide paper is going to become when wet?

 

[sanking]

Go with the brush. I have been able to get very even coatings up to 20X24 with cyanotype, kallitype and pt/pd with a Richeson 9010 brush.

The puddle pushers may sound right in theory, but in practice a good brush like the Richeson 9010 will give more consisent results ove a wide range of conditions.

Some skill is involved in coating no matter what method you use so I would recommend that you start out small with a Richeson brush, and learn the technique. Once you do, you should be able to coat evenly in any size.

Sandy King