Re: waxed negatives

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: Katharine Thayer (kthayer@pacifier.com)
Date: 08/24/00-04:23:57 PM Z


FotoRR@aol.com wrote:
>
> In Burkholder's book-Making digital Negatives for contact Printing-he writes
> about waxed negatives w.r.t. ink jet prints as negatives. How do you do
> this? If you do it, how do you protect the coated paper from this "Waxed"
> negative and yet still print?
> TIA for your help
> Richard Rodgers

You wax it with what is called paraffin in the US, which you find in the
grocery store in the canning section. Its ordinary use is to seal the
tops of jams and jellies after you put them in their jars. To wax paper
negatives with it: warm the negative (some use an iron, the kind you
press clothes with; I use my pancake griddle with a blotter on it to
protect the negative from overheating and to absorb any extra wax) and
then rub the back of the paper with a stick of the paraffin. The
paraffin melts onto the paper and renders it translucent. Wipe carefully
with a soft rag or paper towel while it's still warm, to avoid the wax
puddling and drying unevenly. The waxed paper is perfectly dry and
inert; the emulsion should need no protection from it.

In my experience, the papers which take wax best are the straight bond
papers used in laser printers and copiers; many of the papers commonly
used for inkjet printing are coated and do not wax well. I had to throw
away a whole batch of negatives printed on Epson Photo Quality Glossy
Paper, which seemed to wax beautifully but days later developed cracks
and blotches and a general degradation of the glossy coating.
Katharine Thayer


Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 09/18/00-10:20:31 AM Z CST