Re: varnishes for alt and the elusive soehnee

Hello. This thread is fantastic!!! Pardon my blundering in at this
moment. I am an art conservator returning to my large format
photography roots and in particular to the alt processes.

I have never heard of the elusive vernis "soehnee" but am fascinated as
of this moment.

I can begin to guess what some of the "physical style and presentation"
attributes may have been.

I have been interested in historic varnish and surface coatings from an
investigative but mainly from a formulating point of view for a very
long time.

If I might suggest a thought to keep in mind while prosecuting this
search. The term copal when applied to a varnish or "vernis" is often a
red herring. On the one had it was stated as referring to a hard resin
component sometimes from a so called "fossilized" source such as amber
(found in at least two of the attached recipes). In this usage a copal
vernis was supposed to be hard surfaced and hard wearing but will darken
horribly, crack and crizzle. The early formulators often confused
materials. I do not know if this is the case here. The other end of
the spectrum it referred to a resinous tree sap exudate. As an aside I
brought some back from Peru where it was available in the market place
next to
the dyes and pigments. The mentioned collophony and Canada balsam are
members of this end of the spectrum.

I would also suggest:
a. Copal resins in general are not suitable for fine art purposes
because of darkening, age hardening, changing solubility parameters, etc.
b. The formulae listed mix various vital areas: solvent loss curing
(alcohol (fast), turpentine (slow)); drying through cross-linking
(linseed oil); brush and flow out modifiers such as some of the
essential oils; external plasticizing (Castor oil, benzoin); hard and
soft resins (sandarac, gamboge, dragon's blood, gum elemi); dyes and
colourants(dragon's blood, turmeric, saffron, annato) and strange brew
emulsions which will have never ending drying problems (shellac and
borax with water).

As I am fascinated by this thread but lack knowledge of original uses I
will begin researching but if any of you kind souls would care to send
some references my way I would thank you.

If I might make another guess. Do people have an idea of what the
finished results were after applying such a varnish or coating? Maybe
we can reverse engineer? Who is currently working in this area and
might wish collaboration?

I am equipped in my conservation laboratory to do small scale
manufacture, testing and coating..

Regards and sorry to interject at such length.

Mark MacKenzie, M.A.C.

Christina Z. Anderson wrote:

> Good evening all,
>
> I am about to tear hair out; I am in the throes of finishing my alt
> process manual to bring to the printers tomorrow so I can leave town
> the following frikkin day and I am STRESSED!!! However, there is a
> blessing in disguise here, for in that said alt manual, is (including
> all my gum secrets) a blurb on varnishes. I FINALLY got to read
> through all the varnish reprints I had xeroxed off of microfilm. A
> year or two ago I promised Eugene Robkin, Judy Seigel, and one other
> interested party that I would search for any and all info on the
> subject, in hopes that the secret vernis soehnee would appear. It's
> been so long I think they have forgotten, but I haven't. I am
> fulfilling that promise as of this post. Sadly to say, only two
> mentions of soehnee, Judy and Gene...but I'm givin' you all I got!
> Every formula from back in the day that I found (before Nam) is
> included. I eliminated the ones that used ether or chloroform. No
> secret soehnee formula, only a clue or two.
>
> Here is a severe cut and paste condensation from my manual; please
> excuse lack of formatting because I will send only in rich text, so
> you'll have to add spaces and such. Who knows if it is useful today
> or not, what with Future and Gamblins and Dorland and Renaissance
> wax. A lot of the formulas were used for negatives, of course, but
> there was a crossover to prints.
>
> I had a thought, though; anyone contact Dusan Stulik at the Getty to
> see if he can electron scan a little sample of the stuff???
>
> Chris
>
> "Some of us obsessive compulsives are in search of the elusive, secret
> formula "Vernis Soehnee" that was raved about in days gone by
> ("vernis" is French for varnish, and Soehnee is the inventor's name).
> Perhaps the romance of Vernis Soehnee rests in its unattainableness. I
> only found two references to the varnish, one in 1861: "According to
> M. Soehnee (as quoted by Dumas [he was a chemist]) copal acquires
> solubility in alcohol by being reduced to an impalpable powder, and
> exposed to the air for at least twelve months." and one in 1872 where
> a Mr. Gordon found the Soehnee varnish was probably bleached lac.
>
> So, like spraying buckshot into the air in hopes of downing one duck,
> I'll share all sorts of formulas for varnishes from that day. Maybe
> one comes close to Vernis Soehnee. Maybe not. The disinterested reader
> can skip down to Modern Day Varnishes and save the fun for those of us
> who like to dabble in arcane bits of knowledge to no apparent purpose.
>
> The reader will have to determine which methods are archival and which
> are not--some varnishes yellow with time....
>
> Historical Varnishes
>
>
> Lacquers Before the 1840's
>
> shellac 120 parts
>
> sandarac 45 pts
>
> mastic 30pts
>
> amber 30 pts
>
> black resin 90pts
>
> dragon's blood 30pts
>
> turmeric 30pts
>
> gamboge 30pts
>
> rectified spirit (methylated alcohol) 1000pts
>
> Shake occasionally till dissolved and strain.
>
> or
>
> seed lac 120pts
>
> gamboge 120 pts
>
> dragon's blood 120 pts
>
> saffron 30pts
>
> rectified spirit 1000pts
>
> Put in a hot place, stir at intervals, and filter.
>
> ____________________
>
>
> A really good rundown on varnish ingredients is from BJP 1861:
>
> Solvents Solids Colors
>
> linseed oil amber gamboge
>
> turpentine copal dragon's blood
>
> rosemary oil mastic aloes
>
> alchohol sandarac saffron
>
> ether lac(shellac) turmeric
>
> benzole elemi annnatto
>
> chloroform benzoin red sanders
>
> methylated spiritcolophony cochineal
>
> naptha arcanson indigo
>
> anime
>
> dammar
>
> ____________________
>
>
> Lac Varnish by Monkhoven
>
> alcohol 40 oz
>
> white stick lac 3 oz
>
> picked sandarac 3 drachms
>
> or
>
> alcohol 100 pts by weights
>
> white lac 6 pts
>
> picked sandarac 4 parts
>
> ____________________
>
>
> 5 Formulas from BJP 1867
>
> No. 1
>
> shellac, bleached 4 oz
>
> alcohol 1 pint
>
> No. 2
>
> Benzoin 1 oz.
>
> sandarac 20 grains
>
> mastic varnish 20 drops
>
> alcohol 8 oz
>
> No. 3
>
> benzoin 1/2 oz
>
> jalap resin 1/2 oz
>
> sandarac 10 grains
>
> mastic varnish 20 drops
>
> alcohol 8 oz
>
> No. 4
>
> bleached shellac 8 oz
>
> sandarac 4 oz
>
> Canadian balsam 1 oz
>
> alcohol 1 gallon
>
> No. 5
>
> sandarac 90 parts
>
> turpentine 36 pts
>
> oil of lavender 10 pts
>
> alcohol 500 pts
>
> ____________________
>
>
> Varnish
>
> Bleached lac (white shellac) 10 drachms
>
> Picked sandarac 5 drachms
>
> alcohol 12 oz.
>
> ____________________
>
>
> Ricinus Varnish
>
> sandarac 1 oz
>
> alcohol 6 oz
>
> castor oil 80 grains (or minims)
>
> or
>
> sandarac 3oz
>
> castor oil 1 oz
>
> alcohol 18 oz
>
> few drops oil of lavender for smell
>
> (BJP 1871)
>
> ____________________
>
>
> Mixed Resin Varnish
>
> palest orange shellac 2 3/4 oz
>
> bleached lac 5 1/2 oz
>
> gum sandarac 1/2 oz
>
> methylated spirit 1 quart
>
> "Bruse the bleached lac till reduced to small pieces. Powder the
> sandarac, and then add the whole to the spirit, putting in a few small
> pieces og glass to prevent the shellac caking at the bottom of the
> jar. Stir or well shake the whole from time to time, till it is
> evident that solution is complete. Set aside to clear, pour off the
> clear, supernatant fluid and filter the rest. Allow a month or two for
> subsidence..." (BJP 1882).
>
> ____________________
>
>
> Bleached Lac Varnish
>
> Lac (bleached or unbleached) 1/2 lb or 250 g
>
> Mastic 1 oz or 30g
>
> spike oil of lavender 2 oz or 60 g
>
> methylated alcohol (about) 1/2 gal or 2 litres
>
> no directions given (BJP 1901).
>
> ____________________
>
>
> Water Varnish
>
> shellac flakes 4 oz
>
> water 1 pint
>
> Put in a pan on top of the stove, and bring to the boiling point. When
> reached, add a few drops of hot saturated solution of borax, stir
> vigorously and it'll cause the shellac to dissolve in water. Filter,
> and let cool. (BJP 1902)
>
> ____________________
>
>
> White Shellac Varnish
>
> white shellac, crushed and dried 1oz
>
> sandarac 1 oz
>
> Venice turpentine 1 oz
>
> methylated spirits 1 oz.
>
> At time of use dilute with equal parts methylated spirits. (BJP 1922)
>
> ____________________
>
>
>
>
>
> Vidal's 1886 method of 1/2 oz borax, 1 dram sodium carbonate ( 3.6ml
> of powder?) in 10 oz water. Add 2 oz. white powdered shellac. Boil
> until the shellac dissolves
>
> ____________________
>
> Burnish with Castille soap dissolved in alcohol.
>
>
>
Received on Wed Dec 28 12:18:52 2005