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 [email protected] 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 > > _______________________________________________ > Post to the list as PLAIN TEXT only - no HTML > Pinhole-Discussion mailing list > Pinhole-Discussion@p at ??????? > unsubscribe or change your account at > http://www.???????/discussion/
