Renaissance Wax

[Andrew O'Neill]

Back from Lee Valley...of course it was closed being it Good Friday. Sure felt like a Saturday to me though...

[Ralph Barker]

Back from Lee Valley...of course it was closed being it Good Friday. Sure felt like a Saturday to me though...

I thought of Lee Valley earlier, and checked their web site. No listing for Renaissance Wax, although they had a variety of other waxes.

[Andrew O'Neill]

They have "Conservator's Wax", which is a blend of microcrystalline waxes used by museums, art galleries...Sounds like Renaissance Wax to me but under a different name. 125ml in metal container from only $11.50. That's probably US$ so I'll expect to pay a few more Loonies for it up here.

[John Bowen]

a serch of Ebay for Renaissance Wax turns up 14 listings :-)

[Andrew O'Neill]

That's what I want it for. I want to see what it will do for my kallitypes. From what I have read, some people love it and some couldn't be bothered. I was using an acrylic medium that I brushed on, but didn't like the look it gave. It just "sat" on top. I couldn't get rid of the brush strokes either which I couldn't stand.
No ebay for this guy. I hate that place.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I picked up Lee Valley's version of Renaissance Wax, Conservator's Wax. I checked the Dmax which was 1.19 (not a very high Dmax to begin with but that's what this print was), and scanned it. I rubbed on a thin coat, buffed after it had dried. Applied another thin coat and buffed when dried. Checked the Dmax and it read 1.26. So, there is a slight increase in Dmax but visually I couldn't see the difference. It does look a bit richer, but that's probably due to the sheen.
I have scans of before and after, but the difference between the two is so subtle I couldn't see the difference on the monitor.

Would Dmax increase with more coats? It didn't for me. In fact, it decreased to 1.22 after of 6 coats. Visually, I couldn't see this loss. The image did look juicier though. Two coats was good enough. Have any of you waxers out there experienced this loss of Dmax before? Perhaps someone smarter than me can explain. It reminds me of when selenium toning silver prints that papers after a certain time, will begin to lose Dmax.

I'm going to make two identical kallitype prints. One will get waxed and the other won't. I'll stick them on my wall and observe the waxed print over time to see if there is any discolouration.
Thanks for reading...

[Fred L]

I got mine at Carr McLean in west end Toronto ( Kipling/Queensway area). My last bunch of archival boxes were from there as well. Their catalogue is rather extensive and is worthy of supply lust.

http://www.carrmclean.ca/CategoryGro...x?GroupNo=1743

http://www.carrmclean.ca/CategoryGro...x?GroupNo=1741

[Andrew O'Neill]

Hey, they're cheaper too. Thanks Fred.