Waxing silver gelatin prints

Hello to all.
Anybody have any information/experience in waxing modern fiber base matte surface silver gelatin prints? Since there's no longer designations like F, N, and E, it's quite difficult to get the surface quality of an aired dried F surface. I use Bergger's Warm Semi-Matte because it has the most silver chloride that I've found in modern papers.

I think salt print recipes are a simple combination of beeswax and lavender oil. But I'm not a practicioner. We have a lovely salt print from a local artist, amazing, it's waxed. It's behind glass.

I need to look into this, it's elegant, if done right.

Wax is one-way street. It can hypothetically be removed, but at considerable risk. Beeswax is a very bad idea. It will discolor and get sticky over time. A pure microcrystalline museum-grade paraffin wax like Renaissance Wax would be the best option within an overall questionable idea.

There was a thread a short while back about waxing alt process prints that might be of interest.

See: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/waxing-prints.180421/

I use Renaissance wax on alabaster sculptures with no problems. Of course those are rocks not paper. Have you looked into Moab's Desert Varnish or Kryolon Kamar Varnish? I use the Desert varnish on digital matte paper in hand-made books but that maintains the matte look. I use the Kamar Varnish on vellum which may give you the look you are seeking. I don't coat silver gelatin or platinum/palladium prints. To me the surface is part of the process and some images work best with a matte finish.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

Maybe someone can answer this. My understanding the wax in furniture spray polish is silicone. I've tried it on a few prints with good results. It gave the prints "pop" (more contrast?) . Good or bad?

Do you like it? If yes, then good!
I think most of the furniture wax is actually paraffin with a solvent.

Old_Dick said:

Maybe someone can answer this. My understanding the wax in furniture spray polish is silicone. I've tried it on a few prints with good results. It gave the prints "pop" (more contrast?) . Good or bad?

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I did hear that spray furniture polish is "silicone" but I doubt that's exactly what it is. However, I use it on darkslides to make them slide into film holders more easily. I should try it on a print....

Air-dried glossy fiber-base paper of the ones I use all have a similar sheen to the old Kodak F surface air-dried; after all, F was Kodak's designation for glossy.

I use Adox MC-110, Ilford Multigrade Classic, Fomabrom 111, Slavich Unibrom 160 and a few others. I like the air-dried surface on all of them.

Best,

Doremus

I guess my actual question is, does anyone know if silicone (spray wax) is a good, bad or indifferent to the print? I have some prints that are 40+ years old that don't show any problems. So folks, good or bad idea?

Doremus, someday I hope to see your prints. Great website, bookmarked BTW.. I have tried air-dried glossy in the way past. For some reason I like semi-mat. I'm one of those people who has a large gap in time with photography, no panatomic x? Maybe time to revisit. Price is a problem for me. A DS book would be nice. a how-to and your art.

Old Dick, I posted over on LFInfo last year, or the year before, a "varnish" used by Strand, as passed to me decades ago by his closest friend, photographer Walter Rosenblum. I print on Ilford Warmtone semi-matte, using the glossy only for proofing the negs. The glossy surface has been made glossier than it was years ago, more like patent leather. The following is easy, though some will question its effect, like that of wax, on the print. It will not produce the gloss of air-dried glossy paper, but it will provide a soft luster and bring back the print scale and detail in the low values.

If you are planning dry mounting, do that first. I currently dry-mount my print on 1-ply stock for flatness and hinge-mount that to the mount board which gets a window over-matte.

Mix some artist's stand oil (a refined type of linseed oil) with some high-quality artist's turpentine (I use Windsor-Newton) in a ratio of about 1:4 in a 4-ounce glass bottle with a tightly fitting cap. You'll want to work in a room with good ventilation. Shake well, add a small amount to a cotton ball, and spread over the print in overlapping small circular motion, adding a bit to the ball if needed. When the print surface has been covered entirely (perhaps 30 seconds for an 11x14), immediately use fresh cotton balls to wipe the residue off, turning to keep a fresh surface to absorb thw residue checking carefully to make sure the varnish has been equally "polished". A minuscule layer of oil will be absorbed by the emulsion. Let dry a day or two before framing or storing.

Furniture polish is voodoo; and yes, silicone is a common ingredient; and yes again, it's very bad for organic fibers like paper. The solvents are even worse. As far as true butyl acetate print lacquers go, they start yellowing in 15 years or so. The safer health-wise Krylon spray-on acrylic varnishes might develop differential expansion/ contraction variables from the print itself; so over the long run, you take your chances. I wouldn't coat anything considered "collectable". ..... But linseed "stand oil" on a print ?????? You gotta be kidding. That's like using lead solder for a moonshine still. Tell that one to an art conservator; they'll probably faint.

DREW WILEY said:

Tell that one to an art conservator; they'll probably faint.

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Strand's love of varnish on his gravures & darkroom prints are somewhat notorious headaches in the conservation world (as are, I recall, the Satista prints for different reasons). Something like Renaissance Wax is probably reasonably OK, archivally speaking.

I've experimented with thin gum arabic, wiped on with a microfiber cloth. Sometimes this applied evenly, sometimes it didn't, depending on the exact print medium.