Reinforce Tracing Paper, Keeping Translucency?

[Lephantome92]

Pretty straightforward. Is there any practical way to make tracing paper a little more tolerant to stress without compromising too much translucency? One of the beautiful things of tracing paper I find is folding and having those different "levels" per se of light. The downside is sometimes it can rip along creases. The easiest method I can think of is covering whichever I deem the "raw" side in thinly laid out packing tape. Anyone have any experience with this?

[HankSimon]

Coat it with MC ?

[Lephantome92]

hrm, i'd need to wait to experiment w/ MC since i don't have much left in my checking acct right now. i saw an ad that was like $19.99 per pound, then $8.49 for shipping. is that a good deal for when i have enough money?

[HankSimon]

There have been 100s of posts on buying MC. You might find a good deal at a local paint store, hobby shop, wallpaper store, hardware store, and maybe even with a local druggist. A little goes a long way.

[Bubo]

It has also been mentioned several times that commercial wallpaper paste is almost entirely MC. I use it all the time with unryu and lokta. I have never heard anyone refute this or explain how pure MC gives better results. It's a lot cheaper and can be found in any hardware store.

That said I doubt that tracing paper will absorb it very well. I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.

[mummykicks]

It has also been mentioned several times that commercial wallpaper paste is almost entirely MC. I use it all the time with unryu and lokta. I have never heard anyone refute this or explain how pure MC gives better results. It's a lot cheaper and can be found in any hardware store.

That said I doubt that tracing paper will absorb it very well. I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.

Tracing paper takes a bit longer to absorb it, at least the stuff I've used, but it does work.
I usually MC a piece of tissue to the tracing paper as it makes it fold better. If I need something thinner I do DTMC.

[fncll]

I've never had any luck with MC and tracing paper-- the tracing paper just wrinkles right up. How are you managing to avoid that?

[mummykicks]

I've never had any luck with MC and tracing paper-- the tracing paper just wrinkles right up. How are you managing to avoid that?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61599104@N ... 463394231/
Towards the end of that photo set is tissue+tracing method that works reasonably well.

Another option to try is to first mist it with a spray bottle to get it wet, then, if it isn't too wet & weak you can smooth it out and lift up and re-smooth anywhere it wrinkles up (start at one corner and work your way across the sheet). A wide wallpaper brush works good for this. Tissue paper is just too weak when wet to do this as it will just tear. I do this with my own paper to get it flat and can get away with it for the most part because it's much stronger than regular tissue paper. I haven't tried it with tracing paper, but it might work.

I've often thought that steaming the paper first would be a good thing to try, or stick in a box with a humidifier (100% relative humidity) to get it to absorb water and expand and soften up prior to laying it out, but not get it so wet that it just rips when you try to manipulate it. The problem with spraying it with water is you don't have really good control and some areas get wetter than they should.