Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Fri, 12 Feb 1999 02:06:01 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Domenick Mirando wrote:
>
> >However, the paraffin does the same job (I believe) with no volatile
> >solvents in the air...
>
> I suppose I could use paraffin or plain mineral oil (or as old books suggest
> paraffin and mineral oil) but I want a completely dry product that could be
> glued without worry.
The way we use paraffin is to *melt* it with a hot iron. No mineral
spirits. So as soon as it cools nothing is sticky, it's perfectly dry.
> Granted, well washed, keeped away from buffered materials, non-toned prints
> are archival. But in the spirit of obtaining knowledge, what happens when
> they do fade? I beleive that people have reported highlights of some toned
> prints have faded in a week.
I've tried all cyanotype toners on record (except your acrylics). The ones
that work use tannic acid, and they don't, as far as I'm aware, fade -- or
if so, only slowly over 20 or 50 years. The "highlights fading in a week"
I'm not familiar with, unless you mean the purple colors we spoke of, but
that's more a fugitive *effect,* not really a toner. And even if it were a
toner, that's no longer *cyanotype.* There are things that destroy
cyanotype of course -- among them silver nitrate solution, alkali
solution, clorox, etc., but those things destroy us too.
> .... Would complete isolation from air
> and substrait with the possibility of oxidation, stop the degrading or is it
> an internal, light oriented thing?
I'd like to hear what a conservator says, but I suspect isolation from air
would encourage mold and other degradation.
Judy
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