U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | RE: Paper - baby oil Digi Negs

RE: Paper - baby oil Digi Negs

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009, BOB KISS wrote:


DEAR JUDY ET ALIA,
	I buy my microcrystalline wax from Talas in NYC.  You can get a 5
Bad news, Bob: Talas is no longer in Manhattan, driven (from Soho) by high rents. Last I heard they were relocating to Brooklyn, but as of several months ago, didn't yet have a working phone. Now of course, recession pushes down rents... so who knows, maybe they'll get back this side of the bridge ??? (Tho not to hold your breath.)

As for mineral spirits diluting the wax enough to make SG transparent... Is it still transparent when dry? My experience is that it's not... tho I have made many negatives by exposing through an ordinary print sandwiched with lith film, untransparentised. NOW, however, I have scanner & the 3800 -- tho am alas still terrorized by the thing, as big as a volkswagon.

PS. I buy a product called "odorless mineral spirits"... and depending on the brand, some really are odorless, or nearly so. Otherwise they stink me out of house and home (especially since I sleep in the studio).

Unfortunately, nothing is constant. One year I find a great brand, really REALLY odorless, then it goes off the market, or anyway my market. Then I find another, not bad but not as good... and so forth. The last one I bought was OK, but that was several years ago, so who knows? I'll anyway check to see if there's some left in the original can (I usually transfer it to a brown glass bottle with a narrow screw top, which keeps better), in which case I'll name the maker...

PPS: My sources say that business about not using a preposition to end a sentence with is not to be listened to.

J.

block for very reasonable money.  I melt it and dilute it 1:3 by mass to
make my own soft wax for waxing silver gelatin prints.   You need to use
what is called mineral spirits to dilute it when melted.  Be certain to melt
it in a double boiler and TURN OFF ANY FLAME before opening the mineral
spirits...very flammable!
	I think this would do a great job "transparentizing" paper negs
because, when I have accidentally gotten some on the back of my silver
gelatin fiber base prints, the paper becomes nearly transparent...and that
is double weight!
	My suggestion is to get the was with the lowest melting point (they
offer a few options)...easier to work with.  Please forgive me: "A
preposition is a bad word to end a sentence with".
			CHEERS!
				BOB

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Seigel [mailto:jseigel@panix.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 11:38 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Re: Paper - baby oil Digi Negs

Renaissance wax is very helpful in mending a damaged surface on
commercial SG paper, but IME useless for transparentizing.

J.

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009, Argon3@aol.com wrote:


One thing that occurs to me is Renaissance Micro-crystaline Wax.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax

I've never used it to achieve transparency in paper but it has a

reputation

for being stable.   Most, if not all, oils will cause the paper to
deteriorate eventually.

I've seen references to it being used to "buff up" gelatin siver prints as
a protective finish and as a way to deepen blacks in the print.



http://www.apug.org/forums/forum205/63435-waxing-photographs-any-ideas.html

May seem a bit pricey but might be worth a try.

argon/JGronk


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