Commercial tissue transfers (from Japan)

Today I received from Australia, several sheets of commercially produced transfer tissue from Japan: both pre-printed patterns and blank paper.

I had been working under the assumption that transfer tissue should have fairly high wet strength.  This turns out not to be the case for this paper.  Its wet strength appears to be perhaps not as poor as ordinary wrapping or craft store tissue, but not much better.  One difference is that one surface of this paper is smoother: calendered or sized.  It has that in common with sewing pattern paper.

Meanwhile, a roll of wet strength tissue arrived today from Talas.  It is very strong when wet: at least as strong as a teabag.  After comparing it to other abaca tissues that have arrived recently, I suspect that it will have fairly poor take-up of ink from intaglio printing.  So far, nothing beats sewing pattern paper.

The pre-printed patterns use a water soluble formulation, not an oil.  Online materials suggest that one can screen print onto this paper with (presumably ordinary) underglaze.  My results with screen printing of anything, glaze or not, have been abysmal.  I probably ought to give it another try.

This tissue seems very unlikely to survive intaglio printing.

Piecing together some other discussion found online, it looks like CBM cellulose might be a useful medium for formulating water soluble glaze ink.  I have experimented with CBM as a sizing for tissue, but had better results with unsized paper.  I should try making some ink with it.

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Later on...

In tried transfers onto bisque fired and fully fired test coupons.  The results are promising but not immediately consistent.  I had excpected the bisqued pieces to give better results, but the transfer seems less substantial than it ought to be.  I suspect that the ware is too absorbent and pulls the water out of the transfer before the ink is able to soften and bind.  The most promising result was on a fully fired piece.  I sized the surface with gum arabic before applying and moistening the transfer.  I then allowed the transfer to dry at a floor vent from the furnace.  Next I brushed a little water onto the back of the paper then peeled before the water had too much chance to go deeper into the ink.  This gave a fairly good transfer, though with some holes in the ink.  It is firing now, to 2225F.