ATM Noir Rouge

[Anthony Stillman <atmer@flash.net>]

Black rouge.  People have called this stuff messy.  They understate.
Should you decide to work with it, I can offer the following.

First, don't even think of working without gloves.  I mixed it up bare
handed.  I keep a bar of soap next to the laundry room sink.  After I
washed my hands, I had to wash the bar of soap.  Then, I washed my hands,
and the soap, again.  Even with gloves, keep towels everywhere.  At the
very least you'll want one when you turn on and off the water.

When mixed with water, the powder mostly just sits on top.  No amount of
agitation changes this. I want to thank Colin for the soap hint.  I added a
tiny portion of a drop of liquid dish washing soap to about 5 oz of
water(1).  That was all it took.

Mixed up, its not so much a liquid as a goop.  Watering it down doesn't
help.  It seems to significantly raise the surface tension of water.

Keep good hold of everything.  It's slick.  Even a seated lap slides right off.

Telling when the lap is well pressed is difficult.  I made a new lap and,
as is my custom, after using a wet popcycle stick on edge to press, in the
warm pitch, a single off center channel from near center to edge (lets the
air out), I gooped on some compound and pressed together the two surfaces.
But it was impossible to tell if full contact was made.  I channeled and
then hot water warmed the lap and glass.  Next I pressed out the channels.
Finally, I  re-channeled and cold pressed with a weight.

The finish is nice, but I'm not ready to say it's better then well settled
rouge.  Off hand I think that the limiting factor here, is the pitch.

The rate of stock removal is unbelievably slow.  My current guesstimate is
at least ten times slower than boiled, trice settled rouge.

I know I'm echoing others(2) with this but, black rouge brings new meaning
to the term "cross contamination"  Bare handed, I picked of a bit of
blotched plastic (it had been washed with water.)  The side of my finger
was then black.  I thoughtlessly wiped it on my paint.  Later I sat on the
bed.  Expletively, I noticed a smudge on the cover. I looked by the pocket
of my paints.  Sure enough.  I thumbed the bed spread.  My thumb took some
of it, the rest kind of blends in.  And yes, I washed the soap.(3)


Anthony



1) In metric, about (pi-3) liter
2) Frank, I use an ice tray as my laundry room soap dish.
3) Perhaps DNA does fly.