tape

[NedL]

I'm getting ready to try the "chiba system" to make a gelatin-pigment print.

The instructions include a clever way to keep the paper from shrinking and keep liquids from contacting the back of the paper. First the paper is glued to a sheet of glass using gelatin, then the edges are sealed with tape. It goes through all the wet steps attached to the glass and at the end it can be unglued and the gelatin on the back removed with warm water.

In the text, it says to use gaffa tape to attach to the glass. But in the next section "working steps" it says to use "waterproof tape" and has this picture:

which is obviously not gaffer's tape.

I have questions:

• Am I going to have to cut the paper out when I'm done? ( if so, then it seems like any kind of waterproof tape will be fine. )
• Is there a kind of tape that I could remove without damaging the paper underneath? What kind?

The wet steps in this process are quite short, just a few seconds in hydrogen peroxide solution and then a stream of warm water to remove unhardened gelatin. so it seems like it should be possible to find a tape that can hold while processing but could be removed ( by soaking? ) at the end without damaging the paper....

Has anyone done anything like this?
Advice?

 

[bsdunek]

Never done this, but, Gaffer tape removes easily, so I would suppose it wouldn't harm the paper. Another thing to use might be the blue masking tape. That is made for easy removal also. Might not be as waterproof as Gaffer tape, but seems to do pretty well.

 

[pschwart]

I have used some brands of green painter's tape to mask paper prints. It holds well but is lower tack and doesn't damage the paper. Blue tape can work, too, but seems to have more tack. Good luck with Chiba -- you may find that it complicates an already difficult process

 

[Bob Carnie]

hey Ned this looks very promising.. how hot is the water before it melts??
where can I find more about this process.

I'm getting ready to try the "chiba system" to make a gelatin-pigment print.

The instructions include a clever way to keep the paper from shrinking and keep liquids from contacting the back of the paper. First the paper is glued to a sheet of glass using gelatin, then the edges are sealed with tape. It goes through all the wet steps attached to the glass and at the end it can be unglued and the gelatin on the back removed with warm water.

In the text, it says to use gaffa tape to attach to the glass. But in the next section "working steps" it says to use "waterproof tape" and has this picture:

which is obviously not gaffer's tape.

I have questions:

• Am I going to have to cut the paper out when I'm done? ( if so, then it seems like any kind of waterproof tape will be fine. )
• Is there a kind of tape that I could remove without damaging the paper underneath? What kind?

The wet steps in this process are quite short, just a few seconds in hydrogen peroxide solution and then a stream of warm water to remove unhardened gelatin. so it seems like it should be possible to find a tape that can hold while processing but could be removed ( by soaking? ) at the end without damaging the paper....

Has anyone done anything like this?
Advice?

 

[NedL]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try the green painter's tape first, and go for something stronger if I run into problems. Of course I'm starting with lots of tests, so no chance of ruining anything important. I like the idea of not having to cut out the paper.

pschwart: I use the blue tape for borders when applying silver nitrate on salt prints. I always press it down and rip it off a clean surface 4 times before I use it because it is a little too tacky to remove easily without damaging the paper surface. I'm going to try the green tape now for that too. Thanks!

Bob, the water is supposed to be 40°C to wash off unhardened gelatin.
Here is a pdf that describes the process I'm going to try. I'm starting with the one he calls "direct carbon"

Thanks again.
Ned

 

[pschwart]

Google search for "Chiba System" to find the pdf that fully describes Halvor Bjoerngaard's process.