Digital BW, The Print

Back in art school when we couldn't afford good fixative, we used
hairspray on pastels & pencil because to use nothing would produce one
hell of a mess.  We didn't concern ourselves with longivity past the
week it took to get a grade.  I would never use it now.  Ask Wilhelm
what he thinks of it.
Yvonne Muller, www.yvonnemuller.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard
Smallfield <r.smallfield@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> today a friend mentioned that she knew an artist that used hairspray
as a fixative for pastels and charcoal drawings, which brought to mind
recent discussions of hairspray.
> 
> If artists are doing it, maybe it's an old practice and maybe there
is some knowledge about its long term implications. 
> 
> Obviously print longevity was never a factor in formulating these
sprays:)
> 
> So I'm wondering if anyone knows of old twenty or thirty year old
prints of any kind, that had had the hairspray fixative method of
print protection. (Optimising gloss would not have been a factor back
then, but maybe protection??)
> 
> I've just discovered that with Lyson Print Guard on Eterna Excell or
Moab Colorado Gloss I can get fantastic results - virtually no gloss
differential with sufficient spraying (two coats minimum).
> 
> But these solvent sprays are pretty toxic and I don't like the idea
of cans rusting away in the landfill in a few years and releasing
their brew into the ground water ... so I wonder if maybe a coat of
print guard to seal the print and then some hair spray might be a
compromise. 
> 
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
> 
> Richard
> --
> http://smallfield.vze.com
> 
>    "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
>    --Albert Einstein
>