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Dick Arentz told me a few years ago that he added some sort of liquitex sizing to his sensitizer until they changed the formula and it stopped working well. I'm not sure if it is the same as the Acrylic gloss medium or not.
But (and I may have this story slightly wrong, I heard it a while back) he later ran into someone who knew a person at the manufacturer who he then contacted and persuaded to run a small batch of the old formula so he would have enough to continue using it.
Whatever the case, the currently and commonly available stuff just doesn't play well with pt/pd chemistry. I use it only as a post-printing step. It will punch the Dmax a little. A good way to test the proper dilution is to take a throwaway print, and cut it in a half dozen pieces or so. Just mix a small tray of the sizing at 1:1, treat one piece, add some more water to dilute to 1:2, treat another piece, etc, etc.... This will give you good visual idea of the effect it has both on the dmax and the surface gloss of the paper.
FWIW, polyvinyl alcohol works as a decent sizing that does play well with pt/pd chemistry, and is useful for papers that are really thirsty and soak up the coating solution too quickly. Rives BFK comes to mind as a good example of this sort of sponge-like paper.
Clay, etc....
Wasn't Liquitex at one time used to add DMax (and maybe some gloss) to PT/PD printing—by adding it right to the chemistry before coating? Then if I recall they changed the formula and it no longer worked the same way?
Best Wishes,
Mark Nelson
Precision Digital Negatives
PDNPrint Forum @ Yahoo Groups
Mark I. Nelson Photography
In a message dated 1/21/08 9:50:29 PM, jseigel@panix.com writes:
Thanks to Don, Clay, & Henk for responses about Liquitex varnish -- very
helpful. Not that I might not end up with something completely different
but it's reassuring to know that others have done it in various ways and
the world kept spinning on its axis.
For what it's worth, at this point I'm thinking in terms of very small
prints with a very high gloss -- a sort of reference to glass. (Tho I
haven't tried that yet, it may be too awful to even consider... tho then
again "awful" may be just the ticket.)
But a question for Henk: You said for inkjet you spray lightly before
applying varnish... I take it that's because the ink might run so you more
or less "set" it first? My particular inkjet ink doesn't seem to run if
it's on paper (as opposed to plastic) & allowed to dry, but pre-fix sounds
like a good idea anyway.
It's probably no big deal to throw out some "stinky" varnish that's
growing things, but I'm trying to remember what I used to put a drop or
two of in the top of a jar of liquitex paint that was growing mold. It may
have been a much diluted formaldehyde. I'll look around the studio & see
if inspiration strikes--- sometimes things come back when you go on
auto-pilot.
(As when I forgot my ATM PIN number -- not as braindead as it seems,
because I hadn't used it in years, since I was banking elsewhere, etc.
etc. etc. But finally I had to go to the bank IN PERSON and have the old
one -- which they evidently can't or won't access -- killed & think up a
new one. And then I went to the machine for the transaction -- and
incredibly -- or not so incredibly -- while I was going through the
motions, suddenly a voice in my head sang along with the OLD PIN
number.... )
But as I was saying, so far I'm thinking formaldehyde... If you can get it
of course. Maybe the same friendly undertaker who supplies the cremains?
Meanwhile, thanks again...
Judy
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