Odds & Ends Nov 9 2009

Earlier in this blog I asked how artists who use gesso dealt with the "lumps and globs" that form over time in acrylic gesso. I heard about storing the container upside down - not good as the lumps still formed. I also heard about straining the gesso through cheese cloth - the gesso I use is too thick to strain through cheese cloth.

Carolina (http://loquemegustaaquiyahora.blogspot.com/) suggested using plastic food covering film (Glad Wrap or similar) on the surface of the gesso inside the container. IT WORKS! I cut a circular piece of plastic film using the lid of the container as a pattern and put it on the surface of the gesso. I've been using the same container of gesso for several weeks and NO LUMPS! I need to use gloves to handle the film, but that's OK. I also had to replace the plastic film because I let it dry out and the gesso on the film caked up and was making chips of gesso.

THANK YOU CAROLINA! You rock! (But you already knew that.) :-)

Now if someone can tell me a "safe" way to transport paintings to and from art shows. . . . . .

Question about Gesso - Part 2

Question about Gesso - Part 2. In case you're interested . . . .

On May 23, 2009 I posted a question about storing gesso without it getting lumpy after being stored over time. MY "problem" is that LUMPS (great gooey globs of gesso, really) form in the gesso when I store the partly empty (partly full?) container. Then I have to deal with the clumpy, lumpy gesso the next time I want to gesso a support. I make my own Masonite panel supports and canvas supports so when I make a "batch" of supports, I use my gesso. I pour the gesso onto the new support then use a 6 inch foam "cabinet & door" paint roller to spread the gesso.

Suggested "solutions" were:

• store the container upside down
• put the gesso in progressively smaller containers expelling the air
• use all of the gesso
  

After some "experimenting":

• I found that the clumps still formed when storing the gesso container upside down. But now the clumps/lumps are at the bottom of the jar when the container is turned upright.
• Putting the unused gesso in a soft-side plastic bottle (e.g. plastic soda pop bottle) was messy getting the gesso from a quart jar into a one or two liter plastic bottle - even using a funnel. Plus a great deal of gesso stays in the first container. AND small lumps still formed even when the air seems to be pretty much totally expelled.

So . . . . If (WHEN) I use gesso I have to take my lumps! :-) I'll only buy the quart sized containers of gesso although it's a bit more expensive than the larger sizes. AND when I make a bunch of supports I'll try to make enough so that I'll use most if not all of the container. Where's the savings when buying the larger container if I'm spending time unlumping a gessoed support ?

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)
Ken B.

A Question About Gesso

I have a question to others who use Acrylic Gesso prime their supports.

I buy quarts of Gesso and prime several supports (mainly Masonite panels) at a time. After a while LUMPS of semi-dry gesso develop and as I apply the gesso, I need to pick these lumps out of the still wet gesso on the panel. After I've picked off the lumps I need to "fix" the places where the lumps were. Aaaarrrghhhhhh!!!!!

I think it happens after I've lowered the level in the gesso container and the top of the gesso begins to set up and form a "skin".

Does anybody have a solution to this problem? Maybe storing in progressively smaller containers? Or is this something I need to accept as one of life's burdens?

Sept 9, 2009 - See Gesso Question Part 2