> Judy, Where did you get the rice paper? I have gone to a bunch
> of art supply stores with limited success. I've seen it in catalogs,
> but wonder if you know of a reliable source.

I'm not Judy, but I know of a few reliable sources for rice paper. The easiest one to recommend is an art supply store called Dick Blick.

http://www.dickblick.com is their homepage. Te link below goes directly to their catalog order page.

The site looks new, and is rather rough. It lists less than a tenth (my estimate) of what I`ve seen in the catalog.

Rice paper is not listed on their rather limited web site, but it can be found in their catalog-- which some will be happy to know is FREE in the U.S. Not sure if they charge extra for postage to ship the catalog to Canada, or to other countries, but they do say that they ship things internationally.

The website has an e-mail address for those who want to contact them for more information.

Blick handles heavy canvas for people building traditonal skin-on-frame kayaks. Their price on this is middle-of-the-road (reasonable, but I've seen better).

Another product they have that may be of interest to skin-on-frame construction project is plastisol printing inks. These thick inks are sold for screen printing. The base is liquid vinyl. Theoretically, when applied to a fabric they turn it into a vinyl coated fabric. Some of these inks need to be heated for a few minutes before they set, though. I haven't figured out exactly how I would do that for a kayak skin. In commercial production of PVC coated fabrics they apply a similar compound to a bolt of fabric with a squeegee, and then pass the material over a heated roller to set the product. Usually the inks are used on fabrics, so I know they are durable in that regard.

In commercial screen printing a garment is printed with these types of inks and then goes by conveyor belt through a heated tunnel for the ink to set. In some small operations the printed piece is set in front of a heat lamp for a few minutes.

I haven't played with this stuff for years, and have not tried to coat large pieces, but for anyone who wishes to experiment with these materials, here they are. If you can get it right, you get a smooth waterproof surface in a variety of colors -- and you can mix your own. Coat one side of the material, or both. Something for the experimenters to paly with :)

Paul Jacobson