Toning things down…
Now that the print is repaired, the losses on the edges will be filled so that they become less obvious to the viewer.
Three techniques for toning infill papers were tried:
1. Paper Goo: This is an extract of aged paper. Torn up vintage paper is soaked in water and heated to reduce the water and concentrate the solution:
The compound is then brought to a neutral pH with the addition of calcium hydroxide as it is reconstituted:
The solution is used to soak strips of pure cellulose machine made paper:
It worked, but the tone was too yellow when compared to the front of the print:
So, I tried again…
2. The same machine made paper was soaked in a solution of water colour paints to try and produce a better tone:
However, while this was being done, a stash of toned paper which had been produced for a similar treatment was rediscovered…
3. Inkjet colour matching:
A previous treatment in the Canberra lab on a ferrogallic print produced a number of sheets of acid free paper printed with colour matched inkjet ink. A digital image had been taken of the print, colour matched to the original and sections of solid colour printed out:
One of these colours matched this ferrogallic print almost perfectly:
So, I got lucky! This paper will be used to fill in the losses on each short edge of the print.