U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: varnishes

Re: varnishes

Judy,

Speaking of varnishes, I was out in San Francisco teaching and a friend showed me a boxed set of Paul Strand photogravures—the Mexican Collection.  This set was a second printing done around 1960 from the original plates and is considered the best.  Beautiful photogravures.  They were also varnished with a clear varnish.  It really gave them that "wet look" with deep blacks.  I don't know if any of the list members might know of a varnish that is commonly used with photogravures?  The varnish extended just beyond the image area into the plate mark.  I am guessing it might have even been sprayed on.  It was very even.

Any thoughts out there?

Best Wishes,

Mark Nelson
On Nov 14, 2008, at 8:43:46 PM, "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com> wrote:
From:"Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
Subject:varnishes / was Re: fabriano artistico EW
Date:November 14, 2008 8:43:46 PM CST
To:alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008, Paul Viapiano wrote:

> Waiting for my prints to dry now...why do they always look so good in the 
> wash and then get a bit hazy after drying down? ;-(

That's the difference between wet and dry ! This has been a perennial 
issue, first mentioned (AFAIK) by Robert Demachy in one of his first 
articles about gum printing -- he wrote about watching the "wet look" come 
back to the dry print when he applied the Vernis Soehnee, or the Soehnee 
Varnish that I've been trying ever since to identify... It sounds like 
some kind of shellac or lacquer (being soluble in alcohol). Many formulas 
for varnishes are listed in old formularies for coating all kinds of 
prints, but...

I've tried some to NO satisfaction, but plan to try some more... have a 
list somewhere of possibilities...

J.




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