Waxing Prints

Ian Leake · Dec 29, 2020

wyofilm said:
Ok, thanks!

By the way, your Pt/Pd book is one of the main resources I am using to learn the Pt/Pd processes. An excellent resource.

Thank you I’m glad you find it helpful.

fgorga · Dec 29, 2020

Xia_Ke said:
They do smell a little like lavender, but it’s not strong as you use very little oil. Take the beeswax and melt a bunch into a bowl/pot/container you don’t care about using a double boiler. I melted mine into a ceramic ramekin. Let the wax cool completely. Once it’s solid, use an eye dropper (the bottle I got came with one) to drop the lavender oil onto the wax. Pure lavender oil will melt the wax. About 10-12 drops is enough to start it melting. Using a smooth clean cloth (old t-shirts work great) rub the melted wax into the cloth and then apply to your prints. Depending on the print size you will need to add more oil to the wax a number of times. Once coated, use your fingers to thoroughly rub the wax into the print. This is the most important part! The warmer your hands the better. After you’ve done the whole print, use a clean rag to wipe off the excess and buff the finish. This works well with matte paper. I have a project I want to do with Art 300 paper soon and hoping will work just as well. Don’t bother with glossy or rc paper. After I’m done, I store the ramekin with the wax in a ziploc bag to keep out dust and contaminants.

HUGE shout out to Gary Samson and David Speltz for showing us this a couple years ago at a Camera Commons meet-up! It’s my go-to finish now that I use for about 90% of my prints.

Thanks for the details... something else to put on the "to try" list along with the other ideas in this thread.

I took a quick look at your flickr pages... nice work! I am a sucker for warm prints on warm paper.

I don't work in the darkroom anymore, just the dim room but my favorite combination for inkjet prints is Piezography warm neutral ink on Stonehenge Warm paper.

TheTrailTog · Dec 29, 2020

fgorga said:
Thanks for the details... something else to put on the "to try" list along with the other ideas in this thread.

I took a quick look at your flickr pages... nice work! I am a sucker for warm prints on warm paper.

I don't work in the darkroom anymore, just the dim room but my favorite combination for inkjet prints is Piezography warm neutral ink on Stonehenge Warm paper.

Thank you Frank. If you like warmtone, the natural yellow beeswax adds a little extra warmth to the final print. One word of caution since you mentioned inkjet, from what I have seen, the waxing doesn’t work well with inkjet prints and can even bleed the ink. I’ve seen it with a couple different printer/paper combos, so definitely do some testing first. From my experience with silver gelatin, matte and textured matte finishes worked best. The best paper I have found for it was the old Adorama fiber matte paper, which sadly is no longer available. Not sure who originally made it or why it works so well with that particular paper, but I haven’t found a paper that quite “pops” the same after waxing.

koraks · Jan 1, 2021

nmp said:
That's interesting. Can you describe your process...prepare the albumen the usual way like it is is for albumen print? What about hardening?

Yes, indeed; pretty much the same as for albumen printing, although of course no necessity to add any salt to the albumen (doesn't hurt either, though). I applied it with a puddle pusher/coating rod, but brusing, floating etc. would work as well. Hardening - time takes care of that. If you apply only a single coat, just leave the print alone and the albumen will harden over time.
The obvious drawback is that albumen also tends to yellow with age.

ParkerSmithPhoto · Mar 15, 2021

For a few years, I made carbon pigment prints on matte paper, then masked off the image area and applied 4-5 very thin sprays of MATTE acrylic.

The MATTE is very important, you are just trying to build a very thin, level base. Don't rush spraying. Each coat should be very light.

Then, I would spray with satin finish acrylic a few times.

I developed this method after seeing many Strands, both silver and gravure, and reading about his preference for a slight luster instead of a dead matt.

There are times when I view these prints and think they are the loveliest prints I've ever made in my 30 years of photography. Warm gravure carbon with a light luster. Superb.

wyofilm said:
Who waxes Pt/Pd and other alternative processes? If so, which wax?

Thanks!

gone · Mar 16, 2021

It will probably look great, but try it out on a trial piece first. Whatever you use, make sure it's archival and non yellowing. Art stores are good places to haunt because they're knowledgeable and used to people working with materials for all manner of odd projects. A large charcoal drawing of mine has started yellowing from using a cheap fixative, and it's pretty annoying.

There's zero chance of getting the fixative off, so hopefully I can photograph it and from that make a lithographic or photogravure w/ some hope of recapturing the spontaneity of the original. Definitely learned my lesson....always use the best materials available. Period.

hiroh · Mar 30, 2023

What tape do you use to mask the paper when waxing? I tried pink scotch painters tape and it completely ripped off the paper, so I guess it's the strong one. What are the alternatives?

xkaes · Mar 30, 2023

I use Minwax Finishing Wax on transparent water-color painted B&W silver prints.

Waxing Prints

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