Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the insight, Mark.

I'm filing this in with the great advice I pick-up here. I just grew-up with blowing varnish thru an atomizer. 

gar

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 3/15/08 at 7:28 AM Mark MacKenzie wrote:

>Hello Gary.
>
>If you are concerned about longevity and the print "presentation" to be 
>unchanging after you have printed, dried and coated it then don't use 
>hairspray.  It just isn't the way to go.
>
>While there may be a few twenty to thirty year old prints treated with 
>hairspray they will be on their very last legs now and will have changed 
>markedly.  It is just the chemistry aging kinetics of such materials which 
>were never designed for such use or such a "long life".
>
>Back in the 1950's and 1970's when this process was finding some favour 
>amongst some artists who were probably cash strapped or used to reaching
>for 
>"whatever" was handy to work with and preserve "the creative moment" we 
>found out fairly quickly that such techniques held no merit and should be 
>avoided.
>
>If you are concerned about cans with residues try putting a little of the 
>preferred solvent into the can and then after swishing this around pour it 
>out into a smaller fresh container.  Put a bit more solvent in, swish,
>pour 
>and keep this solvent and coating mixture for use in thinning out the next 
>new can of the same coating.  The old can should be allowed to air dry 
>completely and then when any minute quantities are solid, the can is much 
>more safely disposable as far as ground water contamination goes.
>
>This process is derived from "serial dilution" techniques and is one of
>the 
>best methods for using very little solvent to get rid of the largest
>amount 
>of resin in the can.
>
>If you have kept your old can and its contents clean you may not have to 
>filter but if you use this technique it is probably best to filter through 
>several doubled layers of cheese cloth placed into a fresh paint filter
>and 
>then pour the saved solvent/resin through this and into a clean jar.  This 
>is best done at the time of "swishing" out the original can.  This is a
>good 
>way to keep those print destroying bits of congealed resin off your print 
>surface in any case.
>
>Regards
>
>Mark MacKenzie
>
>Director of Conservation/Chief Conservator
>Conservation Department
>Museum Resources Division, Department of Cultural Affairs
>State of New Mexico
>Santa Fe, NM
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Gary Weaver" <garww@...>
>To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 2:45 AM
>Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Hairspray as Gloss Optimiser
>
>
>Well, they used to have to blow through an atomizer. You can do the same 
>thing : ) How retro is that.
>
>gar
>
>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
>On 3/15/08 at 9:14 PM Richard 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
>>
>>
>
>
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