waxing Pt/Pl prints

I was reading in this months Large Format Camera Magazine, that one photographer is using Renaissance Micro Crystalline wax on his prints and that it made the print pop a little and the blacks a little more deeper. Has anyone out there done this? And how does it effect the archivalness of the print.
Thanks
Michael Andersen:confused::confused::confused::confused:

Michael, the process is archival. It was once more common, the likes of Strand and Stieglitz were among those that waxed prints (and we know their prints are still around). I did not find the change in D-max to be worth the effort. A coat of gelatin sizing (used for gum-over pt/pd) will do pretty much the same thing. Others have tried coating with albumen - search the threads here and you will find quite a few discussions on the subject.

I have used Renaissance wax on a polished sculpture that has kept it from tarnishing but not on photographs. I print with platinum/palladium on papers that have some "tooth" although they are smooth papers and I wonder how applying and buffing the wax would work? I don't really see any need to protect the print since p/p has great archival properties. You may want to modify the emulsion or negative exposure/processing to increase the blacks.
Jeffreyg

All of these posts talk about waxing with Renaissance wax. Are you talking about View Camera magazine?

I'm hanging a show today that has 6 waxed vellum prints in it, and it does add a little bit of kick without changing the character of a pt/pd print. Here's a short blog post on a little bit of the process I'm going through for the waxed prints: Dead Link Removed

As Mike wrote, there are many posts about waxing that can be found through the search function, you can even go as specific as searching for "Renaissance Wax" which pulled up these three posts:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

jeffreyg said:

I print with platinum/palladium on papers that have some "tooth" although they are smooth papers and I wonder how applying and buffing the wax would work?

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I just use old tshirts or those makeup applying/removing cotton pads like these. Put some on, rub in a circle, slowly let up on the pressure until you feel done. Keep continuing until you don't want to add anymore wax; I don't see any improvement in adding more than 2 coats of Renaissance Wax.

jeffreyg said:

You may want to modify the emulsion or negative exposure/processing to increase the blacks.

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Why? As in to use with waxing or instead of waxing just print with more black? I'm assuming the latter, but most people aren't looking for "more black", but a deeper black (higher dmax). Waxing will help the tiniest bit here, but if someone wants a deeper black then they need to look at their printing workflow. The worst offender I've seen in many alt labs is the low humidity during exposure from a variety of reasons causing anemic blacks in prints.

Jeremy,

Can you expand on that comment about low humidity during exposure? I presume you mean in the darkroom, at the time the paper is exposed to the enlarger light. How does humidity affect the paper's reaction to light?

Trask said:

Jeremy,

Can you expand on that comment about low humidity during exposure? I presume you mean in the darkroom, at the time the paper is exposed to the enlarger light. How does humidity affect the paper's reaction to light?

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The first thing to mention is that there's no enlarger, we're talking about contact printing platinum/palladium with UV light. None of this (as far as I know) applies to silver gelatin enlarging.

Maybe someone else can come in and do the organic chemistry explanation as I've been up for quite a bit too long to handle it correctly, but it's VERY easy to see the difference for yourself with 1 print.

Coat your paper, dry it with a hair dryer to bone dry, rip the paper in half.

Take one half and expose it right away with your negative.

Let the remaining half sit in the dark for 1/2 an hour so it has time to come back up to ambient humidity in the room (I live in Fort Worth, Texas, and our ambient humidity is rather high during this time of year, but I just invested in a humidifier to humidify my papers before printing) before printing. If you're using a vacuum frame, make sure there is something between the paper and the vacuum frame (mylar and the plasticky foam core work well for this) to help keep the moisture from leaking out.

The first print will be very anemic and have a look that I like to describe as "cracking" blacks, like they just kind of "break off". This is a rather poor description, but for those that have seen it they have used similar language to describe the blacks. The second print will be much closer to the lush, deep black that is attainable with pt/pd printing.

Now there are LOTS of other variables involved in this, but the *biggest* problem to getting deep blacks I have seen new practitioners make is not printing with a high enough moisture content in the paper during the exposure. Once we do this little test they are amazed by the difference.

As Jeremy mentioned, it is the humidity of the 'paper' that is important. The humidity of the room you are working in will have an impact on the paper (duh!). With the POP (printing out process) like Ziatypes, the humidity of the paper becomes more important.

This is also one of the reasons why, different papers behave different ways for different printers - plus it depends on geographic location. The way Jeremy's paper (and mine we live in the same part of TX) behaves will be different with each season, AND would be different than say someone working in Santa Fe, where the humidity is very low, vs someone living in Houston.

Some days you can do everything right and still not get a print - it is just the nature of alt printing.

photomc said:

Some days you can do everything right and still not get a print - it is just the nature of alt printing.

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You guys are gluttons for punishment ...

France Scully Osterman waxes her salt prints with beeswax and oil of lavender.

Stan Klimek mentions waxing Pt/Pd prints with Gamblin Cold Wax Medium. I haven't waxed any pt/pd but I have tried it on argyrotypes and it looks beautiful. There's a small section on waxing by Klimek in the last appendix in Arentz's book.

i wax my salt prints with beeswax (Frances helped me) and it does make a difference

PVia said:

Stan Klimek mentions waxing Pt/Pd prints with Gamblin Cold Wax Medium. I haven't waxed any pt/pd but I have tried it on argyrotypes and it looks beautiful. There's a small section on waxing by Klimek in the last appendix in Arentz's book.

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I should add that the effect is very subtle, like a duller semi-matte seen on gelatin silver finishes, but does add a subtle richness

Anybody Hydrocote Polyshield Gloss wood finish? (Non yellowing polyurethane especially designated for exterior use.) IME it will give you about 1 stop (log 0.3 - 0.4) dmax increase and slightly more open shadows... But look is very different; not everyone's cup of tea!

Okay, I spent 26.00 for a 200ml can of R. wax and took one of my Point Lobos prints that is Pt/Pl and wax the hell out of it. I got about nothing as making the blacks deeper. For all the work and cost it really isn't worth it. I did try it on a OHP negative and it did protect it but again not worth it. this only pertains to using Pt/Pl printing on Arch. paper.

PS my wood turning friend loved the present I gave him though.

I've made wax from bleached beeswax and damar resin, you can get both from Talas. This is an "old time" concoction and it makes a big difference on a vellum print.
It makes it too silver print like for my tastes, but its interesting option for some work.