MC - Methyl Cellulose

[orislater]

yes that does help. thank you

[Growlanator]

just put my 1st large piece of double tissue to one side to dry, will post back when it has dried

[leung_wwy]

Help please?

Two technical questions for the more experienced MC users:

1) Is there anything I can do to NOT get a glossy side when backcoating paper? (I use my glass sliding door as my surface). I prefer a more natural looking paper surface.

2) With backcoating using 2 sheets of hanji or tissue, one with a lighter colour and one darker, I get this problem where the darker colour shows through to the lighter side. For example, instead of getting black and white, I get black and blackish/greyish white, and red together with green just gives me a horrible brownish/red on the red side. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to fix this problem?

I would love to hear what other people do.

[gailprentice]

Two technical questions for the more experienced MC users:

1) Is there anything I can do to NOT get a glossy side when backcoating paper? (I use my glass sliding door as my surface). I prefer a more natural looking paper surface.

I recently mc'd a piece of banana paper to a piece of mango paper on a large piece of styrofoam & the bottom paper has almost no shine and the texture was pretty much retained. A few tiny pieces of styrofoam are stuck to the paper but not too noticeable. I will put the lighter side on the bottom next time & the pieces of styrofoam won't be noticeable. I also treated a piece of lokta on the styrofoam & no bits of the styrofoam were picked up (I used a thinner mixture of mc on that one, though, so maybe that is why or maybe it is because the lokta had less texture to grab onto the styrofoam bits). I'm very happy with the piece of lokta.

I read somewhere that to remove the glossiness, you can lightly wipe the paper with water. I've done this using a damp sponge and also a Handi-wipe (a re-usable paper towel available in the U.S.). It worked okay but not perfectly for me.

I also would like to know what others do!

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

You read that in this thread. Both of those questions have been answered in this thread, and not all that long ago

[mummykicks]

I guess I should have put my mc post here instead of in the 'sticky - poll paper preferred folding material' thread.

Anyway, for those in the US wallmart tissue paper works very well, a little bit of color bleed on the darker colors (which I didn't see with the stuff from Michaels), but it's cheap at 50 sheets of 20" x 26" and all kinds of colors. I get 100 9"+ squares out of a package = $.04/sheet. That's dirt cheap folding. Not to mention the 50 sheets of 5-6" squares 'extra' that I'll probably use for modular stuff.

My 2 tissue + mc sheets are measuring in right around .002" thickness, or half of copy paper. I'll never use foil again. This stuff is amazingly tough, I just layed a beating on a piece trying to collapse something and it took a long time before it decided not to hold a crease very well, and even then it didn't tear. Impressive stuff.

I've been rolling the creases flat before putting the second sheet on (I let the first dry completely), and then after again. I can't get over how much I like that the fine creases give it a marbled look...so much so that I've stopped trying to get it crease free in the process, it's just cool...

[shortloldude]

I have a question about making MC tissue. I have tried to make double tissue a few times and it always turns out poorly for one reason or another. After a lot of trial and error I got 1 good sheet that worked well. I had enough MC mixed with water left over and tried to make another piece, from a different type of tissue paper. The paper got stuck to the glass and the layers ripped, the sheet on bottom would not come off the glass in most places. I used water to get it up, washed the glass, and then tried to make another sheet with the tissue paper I had success with. The problem happened again though, the bottom layer got stuck to the glass and it ripped apart badly when I tried to pull it up. I wash the glass between making each sheet, and I do not put MC on the glass before I put the paper down. What do I do to stop this from happening?

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

You can try putting some MC on the glass first. I also will mention that if you are using a particularly fibrous paper, such as unryu, that you should put the smoother side to the glass. Also, some brands and types of MC work better than others. I tried some that came in a blue box (some type of wheat wallpaper paste, I think) and I had the problem that you are describing.

[Sunburst]

Finally, I got myself some MC (the Elmer's paste one) to try double tissue. So I prepare the glue (2 tsp of glue with 250mL of water) and get a texture pretty close to egg-white. I backcoated two tissue papers together this morning using a large plexiglass surface. Everything seemed to go well (more or less) : I applied the slightly diluted glue, no color bleeding AT ALL, paper seemed still dry in some tiny parts, lots of wrinkles... I place the surface agaisnt my wall for the drying part.
6 hours later, I find the most horrible double tissue ever made : everything dried in 6 hours only, it was literally peeling off the plexiglass surface with only the top still glued to it, the paper was entirely warped, wrinkles everywhere, air bubbles, rips, you name it. I almost wanted to post a picture to show how pathetic (and funny) the result was. Now my only consolation is that where I have made my first stroke (yes, only there), it looks like genuine double tissue (with the glossy back and no air bubbles.)
Now I'm just not sure what went wrong. I hesitate between putting a lot more glue or diluting my glue a bit more (or not). I'll try to make a second sheet tonight.

Also, just a random question : will double tissue split over a large period of time or will the two papers be permanently glued together?

[shortloldude]

Thanks FrumiousBandersnatch. I use just tissue paper so there is no smoother side. I will try putting MC on the glass first and see if it helps. Also, the type of MC I am using is
http://www.amazon.com/Methyl-Cellulose- ... B001QQ7LOA in case that is the problem.

[orislater]

sunburst Jared said the two papers will be glued forever on the first or second page.
and can you please post a picture? that sounds hilarious XD

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Shortolddude. I'm not sure if that particular paste could be the problem. Give my suggestion a try...also, you may want to look through the MC thread in it's entirety (if you haven't already), as there may be a solution there as well!

[shortloldude]

Several people (I think 2 to be exact, one being you FrumiousBandersnatch) posted a similar problem to mine, but I can get a corner of the paper up, the problem is many parts of the paper are totally stuck to the glass and won't come up. Last night I tried a sheet with MC on the glass then rolled the tissue paper over it and put MC on top, it was worse this time both sheets were almost 100% stuck to the glass. If it matters, I think I am using non-bleeding tissue since colors do not run when I use the MC. I am just confused because I got a good sheet of paper with the same batch of MC + water and have done nothing different, but my newer sheets won't come off the glass.

[ccortner]

shortloldude: Is there any residue on the glass from past attempts? Perhaps that could be causing it to stick? I always make sure the glass is spotless before I make a sheet.

[shortloldude]

Thanks for the relpy Ccortner. I make sure to wash the glass off between each use, so I do not think that is the problem. I guess I will try it with cleaner next time though and see if it helps.