Fixative Regrets

[heatherlynelle]

I just put fixative on the second soft pastel painting i have created. I am sooo upset. What was I thinking? I should have researched it. I didn't even take a picture first...ugh.

Do you protect your soft pastel work somehow? Frame it?

 

[Jo Castillo]

Your painting may be OK. Sometimes when the tooth of the paper becomes full you can spray lightly and then go over it again with fresh pastel. Most people put pastel paintings under glass or plexiglass. For storage without framing you can put them between glassine or slick paper. I sometimes put small paintings in between the pages of a magazine. As long as they are not rubbed there won't be much damage. You can stack them with glassine between them and make a cover with foam core and tape that together or clip it with large clips. I'm sure there are many ideas, putting them in cellophane sleeves, etc.

 

[Bartc]

Three things about fixative:
1) Some do work well for use while working between layers.
2) Most seem to work poorly for a final protection layer.
3) Spectrafix Natural Glass Final Fixative is the one I found that doesn't smell (it's milk protein based), is non-toxic, and if used carefully and properly does seem to work pretty well. I use it carefully misted at a distance with 3 or more very light coats and that works very well almost always.

But I have found none that is always perfect, nor do most reviewers.

As to glazing, do NOT use plexi nor any form of plastic EXCEPT Optimum, which is designed to resist the static that normally plagues plastics. That static is very bad for use with dry pastels. Glass works best, IME, and frankly, Museum Glass or other high quality "white glass" with non-reflective coatings. Those do show off the brilliance of pastels properly, but unfortunately they are expensive.

 

[heatherlynelle]

Thank you both for your advice!

 

[Bartc]

Oops, the name of the product is "Optium" and it's by Tru-Vue, the ones who also make better quality glass for framing.

 

[snoball]

Just yesterday I was watching a video on the Internet about sealing pastels and charcoal. It brought out that the biggest problem was the paper. Really good paper didn't pull the color when sprayed, another factor was the fixative. They said never use workable fixative to fix a painting, they recommended 2 good ones but I don't remember the brands. Lastly was the way you spray. She said to lay the work down flat and spray out over it and let the spray drift down onto the paper. Her painting didn't dull at all.

 

[heatherlynelle]

I will test that technique of spraying. Thank you so much for the info!

 

[JennieJo]

Your painting may be OK. Sometimes when the tooth of the paper becomes full you can spray lightly and then go over it again with fresh pastel. Most people put pastel paintings under glass or plexiglass. For storage without framing you can put them between glassine or slick paper. I sometimes put small paintings in between the pages of a magazine. As long as they are not rubbed there won't be much damage. You can stack them with glassine between them and make a cover with foam core and tape that together or clip it with large clips. I'm sure there are many ideas, putting them in cellophane sleeves, etc.

I use magazines as well. Has worked well for a few years