Acid Free Pastel Panels

[Sharon Knettell]

Linda,

I wanted to add this information last night but ran out of time. The owner of www.dakotapastels.com, shows his pastels without glazing. You might want to talk to him.

I did not mean to scare you about the plastics, but strangely enough not all of them are compatible. The glues sometime have to melt the plastic so it will adhere. The best person to talk to is your local plastic fabricator. You can find them in the Yellow Pages. It really is not as easy as it seems as I found out.

The technical staff at Alusuisse is very helpful.

Sincerely,

[Linda Brandon]

Sharon, when you say ABS absorbs moisture and warps, do you mean it turns and twists along an axis (is this torque? Oh, I am way out of my league here...). Would it not behave itself in a frame, like a zaftig lady in a corset? Or do you mean that it puffs and bulges like a sponge? Wouldn't it be better to absorb moisture rather than dry out, crumble or crack? Would it absorb moisture just by hanging around on the wall, or would you have to leave it in the rain or bury it underground (oh I do hope my paintings don't have to go through that).

The very thin ABS is pretty cheap, around 25 dollars for a 4 x 8 foot piece, and I can cut it up with a utility knife to my specifications. I have some of this lying around on which I will probably use oil paints. The thicker stuff is more expensive but needs no backing to work on. To me, one of the great benefits of working with plastic is that I can sand off a mistake or even an entire bad painting if I feel like it. I just finished a self-portrait (here's the link to it on my website: http://www.lindatraceybrandon.com/bio2.htm ) where I started off with a white skirt and ended up with black slacks after sanding. I wear a mask when I sand this stuff.

I like the idea of mounting a beautiful Twinrocker paper onto Gatorfoam (can I do this myself? does it need to be professionally mounted?).

You know, I think that grounds in general deserve more scrutiny than they generally receive. So many people use linen because of its long history of use, but I see so many old paintings where the linen has crumbled, become moldy, suffers cracks, holes, insect damage, you name it. I appreciate what Virgil Elliot is doing with paint pigment permanance and I'm conducting my own primitive experiments with putting paintings and pastels in the sun; the pigments hold up pretty well. It's everything underneath them that is going the way of all flesh.

You are an amazing resource to have on this Forum. I bless Cynthia every day for providing the magnet that attracts passionate, opinionated, determined and obsessed artists willing to share arcane information.

I'm off to my lair to brood and putter, visit websites and make phone calls. Tomorrow I'm seeing a flayed cadaver as part of my anatomy study (happily, this won't be taking place in my studio). If I don't get sidetracked by this experience I hope to tackle my plastic dilemma as soon as possible.

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

Sharon, when you say ABS absorbs moisture and warps, do you mean it turns and twists along an axis (is this torque? Oh, I am way out of my league here...). Would it not behave itself in a frame, like a zaftig lady in a corset? Or do you mean that it puffs and bulges like a sponge? Wouldn't it be better to absorb moisture rather than dry out, crumble or crack? Would it absorb moisture just by hanging around on the wall, or would you have to leave it in the rain or bury it underground (oh I do hope my paintings don't have to go through that).

The very thin ABS is pretty cheap, around 25 dollars for a 4 x 8 foot piece, and I can cut it up with a utility knife to my specifications. I have some of this lying around on which I will probably use oil paints. The thicker stuff is more expensive but needs no backing to work on. To me, one of the great benefits of working with plastic is that I can sand off a mistake or even an entire bad painting if I feel like it. I just finished a self-portrait (here's the link to it on my website: http://www.lindatraceybrandon.com/bio2.htm ) where I started off with a white skirt and ended up with black slacks after sanding. I wear a mask when I sand this stuff.

I like the idea of mounting a beautiful Twinrocker paper onto Gatorfoam (can I do this myself? does it need to be professionally mounted?).

You know, I think that grounds in general deserve more scrutiny than they generally receive. So many people use linen because of its long history of use, but I see so many old paintings where the linen has crumbled, become moldy, suffers cracks, holes, insect damage, you name it. I appreciate what Virgil Elliot is doing with paint pigment permanance and I'm conducting my own primitive experiments with putting paintings and pastels in the sun; the pigments hold up pretty well. It's everything underneath them that is going the way of all flesh.

You are an amazing resource to have on this Forum. I bless Cynthia every day for providing the magnet that attracts passionate, opinionated, determined and obsessed artists willing to share arcane information.

I'm off to my lair to brood and putter, visit websites and make phone calls. Tomorrow I'm seeing a flayed cadaver as part of my anatomy study (happily, this won't be taking place in my studio). If I don't get sidetracked by this experience I hope to tackle my plastic dilemma as soon as possible.

Linda,

Will not lay flat! When I heard about the ABS plastic on this site, I was psyched! I asked my plastic fabricator about it he said, " Why in **** would you want to use that stuff, it absorbs moisture and warps as soon as it comes in, use Sintra instead." Hokay!

As to mounting your own, it depends on the gsm of the paper and the right cement. It seems to me a decent framer could do it reasonably. Check with Madame Saper about that.

I am glad to see you are using a quality pigmented paper like Twinrocker. It is much less likely to fade than the current popular pastel papers. They are about to make a run of their beautiful cornflower blue paper, you could see if you could get some larger sizes made without paying for a complete custom set up. $$$.

Sincerely,

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Sharon Knettell

Linda,

Will not lay flat! When I heard about the ABS plastic on this site, I was phsyched! I asked my plastic fabricator about it he said, " Why in **** would you want to use that stuff, it absorbs moisture and warps as soon as it comes in, use Sintra instead." Hokay!

As to mounting your own, it depends on the gsm of the paper and the right cement. It seems to me a decent framer could do it reasonably. Check with Madame Saper about that.

I am glad to see you are using a quality pigmented paper like Twinrocker. It is much less likely to fade than the current popular pastel papers. They are about to make a run of their beautiful cornflower blue paper, you could see if you could get some larger sizes made without paying for a complete custom set up. $$$.

Sincerely,

Great self portrait! Actually you really are adding some superb pictures. I especially love the two boys, the one reading and the plain head. The color is great and he looks so alert.

As to being a great resource, thanks, but you will find when you kick around long enough and are curious and desperate enough you will ferret out amazing stuff!

Cadavers! As Ingres said about anatomy, "Cette science affreuse!"

Have a ball!