RE: Silk and Dope?
I'm fairly certain that the CL guys have "relaxer" available for their dope. There is also a "retarder" available that is useful as well.
The relaxer is usually used in the later coats. It does what it sounds like. It keeps the later coats from shrinking as much. You don't use much at all, and I've never used it in the first coats. It's purpose is to stop the surface from going brittle on you. If the dope gets too hard it will crack and craze and the relaxer stops that. But too much of it isn't better than "enough". And some guys used to add a drop or two of castor oil to do the same thing, but there was no real info on that so it was hit or miss and often gave other problems.
The retarder is used by the guys who lived in humid areas and the guys painting in humid seasons. Dope dries faster than most paints and sometimes it'll dry so fast that it traps humidity. When it does, the humidity fogs the surface. You can wash the area with thinner, but it often won't look 100% and the thinner sometimes causes other problems. And some guys used to say that the retarder added makes the surface level better and shine more. I never knew if that was true, because most of them also shot on a bunch of clear overcoats and then rubbed out the finish. And I always did semi-scale and never cared for the polished glass look.