Waxing Prints
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I have no direct experience waxing photographic prints of any sort, however I do know that "Renaissance Wax" is used by museum conservators for many things. A quick Google search shows that it has been used by folks on photographs of many sorts even inkjet prints.
Why are you interested in waxing prints? What 'problem' are you trying to solve? I ask simply out of curiosity. I have never thought of doing this.
Why are you interested in waxing prints? What 'problem' are you trying to solve? I ask simply out of curiosity. I have never thought of doing this.
Curious if it would add a sheen to a Pt/Pd print or other alternative print where the print has a matte appearance. I was thinking bee's wax, but I'll need to look up Renaissance Wax. Thanks for the lead.
Frank - I swung by your blog. Wonderful work - including your cyanotypes. I'm working to get up to speed on cyanotype and Pt/Pd with the goal of printing cyanotype over Pt/Pd. I really fell hard for such prints in reading a Cyanotype book by Christina Anderson - mainly I think the artist was Sam Wang. So really I'm trying to take it all in.
Bees wax diluted with lavender oil is the classic approach. Renaissance wax is a contemporary alternative that's easier to use. I've personally used furniture wax with good results, but I can't promise a total lack of yellowing with age.
Thanks so much for the kind words.
My next goal, alt process-wise is to learn Ziatype and then to experiment with cyanotype over Ziatype. I prefer printing out processes.
I'm still saving my pennies though.... palladium is a lot more expensive than iron!
My understanding is that traditional materials (derived from natural sources, both organic and mineral), including beeswax (not sure about lavender oil) are acidic and that this can cause problems in the long term when it is applied to some objects. Renaissance wax was devised to avoid this issue.
That said, I have no clue if any of this matters for waxing alt process prints.
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Christopher Jame's book mentions both renaissance wax and bees wax.
I've only waxed negatives, and not prints ( with paraffin ). which isn't really the ideal substance to wax with..
good luck !
I've only waxed negatives, and not prints ( with paraffin ). which isn't really the ideal substance to wax with..
good luck !
I have always wondered if a coat of gelatin would work as well for the intended purpose here to provide some sheen and deepening of the image a bit. It's a material we all are familiar with.
:Niranjan.
:Niranjan.
You mean albumen as a topcoat or gelatin on top of albumen print?
Frank, many decades ago I read something about waxing prints. Not having anything but "Pledge" (furniture spray wax) around the house I tried that. I used an 8x10 curled scrap print. I believe it was semi-mat. The curl reversed itself in seconds, I let it set for a minute and polished it. The reverse curl was temporary. 50 years later the print shows no sign of damage. I recently took up printing again and tried it with granite wax polish, worked the same.
Lyndeborough neighbor.
Lyndeborough neighbor.
I've tried waxing Pt/Pd with Renaissance wax I'll never do it again...
That's interesting. Can you describe your process...prepare the albumen the usual way like it is is for albumen print? What about hardening?
Long time ago I spent a lot of time trying to find a coating for inkjet prints on fine art matte papers - a lot of those commercial spray-on varnishes but wasn't quite successful. For one thing, those papers have no sizing so they are porous like a sieve and it required multiple coats to get anything to show up. For canvas though, I was happy with how Liquitex gloss varnish media came out - gave a wonderful sheen, more or less glossy depending on whether I used it straight or diluted. It also provided a nice protective coating.
Incidentally Peter O'Donnell in this video shows use of gum arabic as a topcoat followed by beeswax on his salts.
:Niranjan.
Andrew O'Neill
Moderator
I don't wax. I use dilute, clear acrylic medium.
Howdy neighbor (in Antrim, really close)!
An interesting data point on stability for what I am assuming is a waxed silver gelatin print.
I am not surprised by your observation vis-a-vis the curling. The reason paper curls is that cellulose fibers swell when they are wet (and shrink as they dry). Thus, if the two sides of a sheet of paper have different surfaces, they will react differently to wetting and drying. This leads to curling.
I imagine that a household spray wax is mainly water thus your observation... swelling when wet, the fibers lengthen and the curl disappears only to reappear as the paper dries out again.
Interesting... do your prints smell like lavender?
What ratio of wax to oil do you use?
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.
Why? What happened!?
It's a subjective thing: I felt that it made the print look ugly. I love the rich, matte blacks of platinum. To me the waxing made the prints look like something they weren't. Other opinions may differ, of course.
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.
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