Spent three hours trying to figure out why a piece felt dead and it was the glue
Working on this collage for a group show in may and it just sat there for two weeks. Technically fine but completely inert. Kept thinking it was the composition, or the color balance, or I'd picked the wrong source material.
Changed the glue. That was it. I was using this tacky roll-on adhesive and it left this weird slightly glossy residue on the paper that was killing the matte surface. Switched to a paste I've had forever and suddenly the paper sits right and the whole thing breathes. Never even thought about glue as a factor in how something reads.
So dumb. But also kind of good to remember that sometimes the problem isn't the big choices, it's the material thing you stopped noticing.
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Ah glue. The yoke you'd never think about till it bites you. I remember doing a run of prints one time, must've been six or seven years ago now, and every single proof was coming out flat. Not bad exactly, just... nothing. No life in them. Clean carve, good paper, nice even pressure on the press. Could not for the life of me figure what was wrong.
Turned out I'd switched ink brands without really noticing. Same colour, same black, different binder in it. Dried with a slightly different sheen and it was killing every print stone dead. Swapped back and it was like someone opened a window.
Funny the things that'll trip you up. The stuff you don't even register as part of the process till it pulls the whole thing sideways. Glad you found it anyway, that's the kind of lesson you only learn once, and then you're dead sound for life. Best of luck with the group show, May'll be here before you know it 🙂
the ink thing is exactly it, the stuff you don't even register as a variable. i love that you figured it out though. most people would've just kept chasing composition and blamed themselves.