Hello Mitra!
I wonder if anyone here has experience with “water blocking” traditiona gesso on panel? I’ve seen very little about it, but I’ve read some suggestions that a gesso panel could be smoothed by working the surface with a hardwood block dipped in water.
It’s hard for me to imagine this method fully removing brushstrokes, and I would worry that the paste worked up by the wet block would be unstable.
That said, the intorlerable amount of dust created sanding larger gesso panels has me searching for alternatives.
Perhaps an old school scraping method combined with a wet block?
If anyone has experience or resources to share on this topic, I would love to hear about it. Thank you
– eli bornowsky
Thank you Brian and Koo! I forgot that I had posted this question and am pleased to see your detailed responses, and caring recommendations regarding safety. It’s time for me to try a few more gesso application experiments. Cheeers. Take good care : ) – eli
I have done this. It does work and is stable. I did find that the surface required a final sanding to be truly smooth. The great part about it is that it actually removes pin holes. It also seems to make the surface of the ground a little harder for some reason. I do not use the technique regularly (nor scraping with a cabinet scraper) as I find it more cumbersome than just sanding outside. I do continue to use a wet method if I discover pin holes after sanding. This is discussed on the following thread.
https://www.artcons.udel.edu/mitra/forums/question?QID=780
Hi Eli,
I concur with Brian’s post. Another effective option is to wet sand with a sanding sponge. They’re about 4.5 x 2.5″ with 1″ thickness. I recommend an ultra-fine grit, and the type with “channeling” that helps limit dust build up (although with wet sanding you’ll still get some “paste” build up). Another option is to let gesso harden to a paste consistency, then trowel it on with a wide, plastic, “anvil putty knife” – that creates a pretty smooth surface (although you still tend to get striations at the edges of the putty knife). Then there’s spraying on gesso with an air gun, which is how most commercial gesso panel makers do it – but that requires a lot of equipment (and good protection; aerosoled gesso is not good for your lungs). Even if you find an alternative method that creates a smoother surface, it will still probably require a final hand sanding, as Brian notes. Be diligent about wearing a good mask when generating gesso dust – it’s very bad for your lungs, and some chalks have silica in them to boot (which can cause silicosis) – and we all must take especially good care of our lungs in the age of covid! Hope that helps, Koo
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