Kraft-tex and Suminagashi
After showing the wonderful folks at Tint Makerspace, in Falls Church Virginia, some book cloth made with fat quarters from their store, they asked about the suminagashi pastedowns/end pages I had used. I described the process and they handed over some sample sheets of kraft-tex, a fabric-like paper product that can be sewn, and asked if I'd run some tests to see if it would work for suminagashi. Always willing to try some new materials and techniques, I of course agreed.
I wasn't sure on the level of absorption of the kraft-tex, having worked entirely with watercolor paper, mohawk superfine, and rice paper in the past. So I broke down the experiment into dipping dry sheets and pre-soaked sheets into the pans. I had heard about pre-treating paper for marbling before, so I thought I'd give it a try and see.
To give it the best chance, I also let the paper float in the pan for 30 or so seconds to give it more time for the kraft-tex to absorb the inks.
The dry sheets turned out to give the best results, but to be honest, I don't think I'd call this a slam dunk for their usability. The white kraft-tex was the only one that gave "ok" results, and you can see the white kraft-tex in comparison with my gold standard for suminagashi, Mohawk Superfine.
The Pre-soak didn't work at all, maybe there is another paper prep method that would help, but personally I'll be sticking to my Mohawk and heavy watercolor papers. Though, I think I'll try weathering some kraft-tex to make a book cover one of these days, I've read that it can make for a pleasing leather-like look and feel.
