Half vast test of fixatives

[Bartc]

OK, I should have my head examined for posting this crappy a job of testing out 3 fixatives for my pastels. But here it is anyway if it helps anyone else. The idea was to quickly test Krylon Workable against Spectrafix Degas and Spectrafix Natural Glass Final Fixative.

What I did was use black, white, 3 primaries and 3 secondaries in strips horizontally across the white PastelMat. Then I did vertical test strips with the fixatives.
First left column is just the raw pastel, no fix.
Second from left is Krylon workable fixative (couldn't find my final Krylon, which is better.)
Third from left is one coat of Spectrafix Degas. Fourth is 2 coats of Degas. Fifth is 2 coats of Degas with one coat Natural Glass Final Fixative over those.
Sixth from left is one coat of just NGFF. Seventh is 2 coats NGFF.
Eighth and last column on the right are multiple coats of NGFF. On the one far right I then took full strength Natural Glass and brushed over it.
Bottom horizontal column is all those same but taking a thumb smudge of the black on the raw paper to see how much was actually fixed.

Unfortunately, I was sloppy! I wasn't able to keep each color strip from bleeding into the others when raw (dusty), and I was too wet with the brushed on NGFF. But I was in a hurry to figure this out and thought some info is better than none.

Also, my scanner is not the best, plus it doesn't show you that the multi coat NGFF column was a bit glossy, and the brushed on column is much glossier than that. (I knew this from experiments with watercolors and NGFF and found it to be really great for totally protecting the watercolor.)

So here you see the full color version on top and a grey scale version of same below, which I had hoped would tell you any value changes.

So here's how I read it live:
Only thing that totally fixes pastels is multiple coats of NGFF with NGFF brushed on. I'd still recommend using glazing even with that.
Everything worked to differing degrees with the smudge test compared to raw unfixed pastel. The more coats the better with any of the fixatives.
There was some darkening with each fixative, but that varied very widely with the colors and not sure why, with green being most obvious. Least darkening was one coat only of either Spectrafix product with the NGFF coming out better. Multiple coats of Degas once darkened didn't seem to darken more, but the same cannot be said of the NGFF, which was a surprise to me.

My conclusion from this is that one coat done properly (misted lightly) with Spectrafix Natural Glass Final Fixative is good enough and the best if you want the least alteration of value and hue. It's good enough that I would not hesitate to do it on any pastel painting. Second best would be one coat of Spectrafix Degas.
While I know that Krylon final fix (not this workable) is better than the workable, it still stinks, still darkens considerably and is toxic to breath. All Spectrafix products are totally non-toxic and have no smell to speak of.

BTW, my experiments with watercolor made the NGFF a super champ! Almost no darkening or color alteration I can see and multiple coats were fine, plus brushed on over those made for a super protective result that would stand up to not using any glass in framing.

As I said, this was quick and VERY dirty! LOL

 

[pcj]

Thank you. That was very interesting.
Cheers,
Patricia

 

[Artyczar]

Like a little tutorial. Thank you!

 

[Bartc]

Ayin, just wish I had taken my time and done it right.

 

[Artyczar]

But we have still learned from it!

 

[Donna T]

Thanks for this Bart. I use SpectraFix Degas but never on a finished piece. It's good for restoring tooth if/when I overwork an area of pastel. I like to use it to make drips and runs too. The Natural Glass fixative sounds really good and I appreciate knowing what your experience with it has been. No glass for framing ... Wow!

 

[Bartc]

Thanks for this Bart. I use SpectraFix Degas but never on a finished piece. It's good for restoring tooth if/when I overwork an area of pastel. I like to use it to make drips and runs too. The Natural Glass fixative sounds really good and I appreciate knowing what your experience with it has been. No glass for framing ... Wow!

Donna, no glass is with watercolor. I'm not yet convinced that works with pastels, but haven't gone that far in careful testing.

Natural Glass is better than Degas for clarity and lack of value/color shift in pastels. If you have enough thin coats to be able to brush over it without smearing, then maybe no glass. My quick and dirty test was too crude to be sure.

I have not used Degas as a workable fixative, nor Natural Glass. So if you've found Degas to be a good workable one for middle of your painting, my experiment does suggest (as did some early videos) that Natural Glass over that as a final works pretty well.

BTW, the owner of Spectrafix responds to questions and she's been very helpful.

I love this stuff in practice and in theory it may be better than we all imagine.

 

[Donna T]

Oh darn! I thought all of my framing woes were over!

 

[Bartc]

Oh darn! I thought all of my framing woes were over!

I only wish!!!! At least I can suggest it will work for watercolors. But those of us doing dry pastels are still somewhat outa luck.....

 

[laika]

Is the Spectrafix Natural Glass not too glossy? I like the Degas mix for pencil drawings. I think both of those products are casein-based, which appeals to me.

BTW, the owner of Spectrafix responds to questions and she's been very helpful.

Della, right? Isn't it nice that she's so pleasant and prompt in response to questions? Cool lady. I wish she would make some casein paints.

 

[Bartc]

Both products are indeed casein based. Yes, it's Della. Whatever she's cooking up, it works.
Neither product is glossy. You don't get any gloss with Natural Glass unless you brush it on or thoroughly soak the hell out of the pastel surface.