Re: Waxing Paper+Brown Cyanotypes

Hi Ben,
I've used both paraffin wax and mineral oil on both photopaper and
digital paper negatives.

Most people who use paraffin wax don't melt the wax in a pan but simply
warm the paper--some people iron the paper with an iron (usually used
for ironing clothes) but when I was waxing paper I used a large griddle
(usually used for making pancakes) to warm the paper. Once the paper is
warm, you melt the wax onto it by simply rubbing the cake of solid
paraffin over the warm paper.

Although many people report being satisfied with paraffin wax, I quickly
found that the wax coating is very susceptible to scratches, and decided
it wasn't the solution for me.

Mineral oil is messier in the application, but I've been happier with
the results and it has been my method for rendering paper negatives
translucent for several years. The resulting negatives have a nice dry
surface and they don't scratch as easily as the waxed negatives.

One thing to be aware of in choosing a paper to print inkjet negatives
on: in my experience paper with a coated or glossy surface is going to
present problems. It will wax beautifully at first, but over time,
usually within days, the oil or wax attacks and degrades the coating on
the paper, resulting in blotches that ruin any print you make from the
negative.

Hope that's helpful,
Katharine Thayer

BenDuross@aol.com wrote:
>
> Hello
> I posted a message earlier today about waxing photopaper or injet photopaper, the reason I want to wax the paper is to make cyanotypes.
> Also could anyone tell me how to go about making my cyanotypes brown.
> Thanks
> Ben
>
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Received on Thu Nov 21 18:47:31 2002