I caused big holes to appear in my attempt to paint my "mosaic" piece. I tried to avoid the mistake of rendering the paper too brittle by the use of alum solution yet I failed. I think my mistakes could be attributed to the thinness of the paper and my stupid idea of ironing the paper. Could I be using the wrong alum solution mixture? I am told the ratio of gum to alum should be 2 to 1. I seem to recall that my solution has more alum than gum. I used animal skin gum by the way. I've been using that on my double Xuan and so far I have not been penalized for using too much alum. My frayed edges from the gold speckled paper was my first mishap and the first hint of any bad side-effects from my solution. I am convinced now that the more robust double Xuan saved my skin in the past.
So instead of trashing my "mosaic" piece due to the holes, I am going to continue my project.
I proceed to make the darker areas much darker than before, to contrast with the lighter areas.
Since I do have a fair amount of void space to begin with, the holes caused by the ironing mishap actually could pass under the radar.
I am just glad that I have fulfilled my New Year's resolution at least, by initiating and not giving up on a tedious project.