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Studio diary
Drying times, rabbit skin glue and why Cape Town panels behave differently
A panel that was ready to sand by lunchtime in Gauteng will still feel cool and slightly giving here the next morning. That is not a fault in your recipe. It is the air. Cape Town and Durban sit at humidity levels that keep water in the wood and in the glue far longer than inland studios are used to, and the whole sequence of preparing a ground has to slow down to match.
The method below comes out of a long-running thread where members compared notes across seasons. It assumes rabbit skin glue and a simple chalk-and-titanium gesso, mixed by hand, applied in thin coats. Nothing here needs specialist equipment beyond a jar, a wide soft brush and somewhere the panel can sit undisturbed.
Check the forecast for the next two days, not just today. If rain is coming in overnight, the glue size will take longer to set and the first gesso coat will blush. Members in Sea Point tend to work in the morning when the south-easter is still building; those in Durban often wait for a dry spell rather than fight a wet week. A cheap hygrometer on the studio wall tells you more than the forecast does.
The instinct is to lay on a thick coat so the panel is covered in one pass. Resist it. Thick gesso skins over on top while staying soft underneath, and that soft layer will drag when you sand. Four or five thin coats, each brushed in one direction and left until it is genuinely dry to the touch, give a far better surface. In humid air that can mean waiting until the next day between coats, which is normal here.
To test readiness, press a thumbnail into an inconspicuous corner. If it leaves a mark that does not spring back, wait. Sanding too early clogs the paper and tears the surface you just built.
A ground that has gone tacky or blushed is not necessarily lost. Light sanding back to a sound layer, a thin re-size and a fresh start usually recovers it. If the glue has soured or the panel has warped, it is worth starting again on a fresh board rather than fighting it. Members keep a few spare panels sized and ready precisely so a failed ground does not stall the week.