Workable fixative, ACK! What a mess! HELP!
Captain Packrat
I bought a can of Blair "No Odor Spray Fix" to use on some of my more
fragile drawings (oil pastels & chalk, mainly). Both of the drawings
I used it on where ruined. In the first, an oil pastel, the fixative
caused the oil pastels to bleed, leaving a big mess. On the second,
done with colored paper chalk, the fix aparently reacted with one of the
pigments, giving what was a fairly smooth area a blotchy look, and soaking
through the paper. In addition, the fix made the paper look dirty and
yellowed. Did I do something wrong, or is it the fixative's fault, or
what? If it is just this brand of fix, can anyone recommend a good brand?
Captain Packrat
http://www.sandiego.sisna.com/captpakrat/
"No matter how many share a cab, each puts the full fare on their expense
account."
O. .O
==V==
gr...@primenet.com
Captain Packrat <captp...@sisna.com> wrote:
: I bought a can of Blair "No Odor Spray Fix" to use on some of my more
: fragile drawings (oil pastels & chalk, mainly). Both of the drawings
: I used it on where ruined. In the first, an oil pastel, the fixative
: caused the oil pastels to bleed, leaving a big mess. On the second,
: done with colored paper chalk, the fix aparently reacted with one of the
: pigments, giving what was a fairly smooth area a blotchy look, and soaking
: through the paper. In addition, the fix made the paper look dirty and
: yellowed. Did I do something wrong, or is it the fixative's fault, or
: what? If it is just this brand of fix, can anyone recommend a good brand?
YOW! I use Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating #1303. It's not
workable fix as in when you lay it down you can work over it, it's a
permanent protective gloss coating.
Looking at the back of the can, it's good for photography, watercolour,
charcoal, pencil, painted surfaces, holiday decorations, valuable papers,
ceramics, models, display materials, floral arrangements, wood crafts.
It won't yellow with age, moisture resistand and smudge proof as well as
improves photo contrast.
I got my can at Michael's for under $5.
I put 2 coats on my (one going up to down, the other left to right) and
it's never soaked thru my bristol nor the Art Again colour paper I use
for some of my colour pencil work. It's mildly stinky and that always
makes me hungry for some reason. :)
Best of luck!
--Tygger
--
******************************************************************************
graf@primenet http://www.av.qnet.com/~canuss/tygger
******************************************************************************
"Freedom begins when you tell Mrs. Grundy to go fly a kite."
Lazarus Long, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, Robert A. Heinlein
Ed Mooring
In article <31C8B6...@sisna.com>,
Captain Packrat <captp...@sisna.com> wrote:
>I bought a can of Blair "No Odor Spray Fix" to use on some of my more
>fragile drawings (oil pastels & chalk, mainly). Both of the drawings
>I used it on where ruined. In the first, an oil pastel, the fixative
>caused the oil pastels to bleed, leaving a big mess. On the second,
>done with colored paper chalk, the fix aparently reacted with one of the
>pigments, giving what was a fairly smooth area a blotchy look, and soaking
>through the paper. In addition, the fix made the paper look dirty and
>yellowed. Did I do something wrong, or is it the fixative's fault, or
>what? If it is just this brand of fix, can anyone recommend a good brand?
>
Ouch! Don't you hate "learning experiences"? Blair fixatives have been
around for at least 20 years, and I've never had a problem with them.
However, fixatives are only good for pencil, charcoal, and pastels.
These are media that basically leave dust on top of the paper. The
fixative is just a thin varnish to keep the dust from falling off. The
idea is to use just enough fixative to keep the dust on.
If you use too much fixative, you wind up with the dust (pigment)
embedded in a thin layer of varnish. This will do all kinds of bad
stuff to your nice colors (whites go away, I've had a blue turn sort
of light pink). You have to use it lightly, and evenly. Remember it
is just varnish mixed with solvents, so too much of it soaking into
your paper will change the paper as well.
Oil pastels are oil paint mixed with wax. They don't need fixing. (If I use
'em they're so broke they can't be). Eventually the oil paint will dry (I think)
and you can seal them with varnish.
Hmm... I just remembered I had a can of the same stuff around <rummage>
in the back of the taboret</rummage>. It says "for pencil, charcoal,
pastel, chalk, marker, opaque, water color, tempera, etc.". It also
contains methanol, ethanol, and ethyl acetate, a rather niftily
euphonious set of solvents. Regardless of what it says, I'd not use it
on anything but the first four, and Conte crayons. Those solvents could
wreak havoc with any dye-based pigments in the other media.
<READ THIS>
The most important book for anyone who wants to know about this
kind of stuff is:
_The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques_
Ralph Mayer
ISBN 0-670-83701-6
If you can't afford to buy a copy, see if you can find it in your public
library. It's ~750 pages of pretty much everything you need to know about
materials and the techniques of applying them.
</READ THIS>
(My mom got me this one for my birthday a couple years ago. She was afraid
I wouldn't like it. She felt better when she saw it a few months later in
its stained, battered, and Post-It covered glory).
Reading news when I should be drawing.
--
Regards,
Ed Mooring (moo...@tymix.tymnet.com 408-922-7504)
Captain Packrat
> Oil pastels are oil paint mixed with wax. They don't need fixing. (If I use
> 'em they're so broke they can't be). Eventually the oil paint will dry (I think)
> and you can seal them with varnish.
(frowns at the idea of having to leave some of his drawings out for a
few days or weeks)
> Hmm... I just remembered I had a can of the same stuff around <rummage>
> in the back of the taboret</rummage>. It says "for pencil, charcoal,
> pastel, chalk, marker, opaque, water color, tempera, etc.". It also
> contains methanol, ethanol, and ethyl acetate, a rather niftily
> euphonious set of solvents. Regardless of what it says, I'd not use it
> on anything but the first four, and Conte crayons. Those solvents could
> wreak havoc with any dye-based pigments in the other media.
>
> <READ THIS>
> The most important book for anyone who wants to know about this
> kind of stuff is:
>
> _The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques_
> Ralph Mayer
> ISBN 0-670-83701-6
>
> If you can't afford to buy a copy, see if you can find it in your public
> library. It's ~750 pages of pretty much everything you need to know about
> materials and the techniques of applying them.
> </READ THIS>
I'll have to look for it next time I'm at the bookstore.
Thanks for the advice.
Captain Packrat
http://www.sandiego.sisna.com/captpakrat/
"It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious."
O. .O
==V==
.
Captain Packrat
gr...@primenet.com gave the following advice:
> workable fix as in when you lay it down you can work over it, it's a
> permanent protective gloss coating.
*****snip, snip*****
I think that sounds more like what I'm looking for (I kind of prefur
glossy over matte).
Thank you.
Captain Packrat
http://www.sandiego.sisna.com/captpakrat/
"Never invest in anything that eats."
O. .O
==V==
Mark-Oliver Wolter
Captain Packrat <captp...@sisna.com> wrote:
>I think that sounds more like what I'm looking for (I kind of prefur
>glossy over matte).
As long as you don't want to scan or copy it ...
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