Workable fixative

[Biki]

I promise i won't ask any more questions ....... today. :D

When yu guys talk about workable fixative to spray onto the charcoal drawing on canvas, can you throw me a few other names/brands etc?

I have some spray stuff, that is about a hundred years old ...
HELMAR Crystal Kote "Matt"

all it says it that the "Propellant" is Hydrocarbon. Is that the ingredient I am looking for.?

thanks

biki

[Marc Hanson]

I promise i won't ask any more questions ....... today. :D

When yu guys talk about workable fixative to spray onto the charcoal drawing on canvas, can you throw me a few other names/brands etc?

I have some spray stuff, that is about a hundred years old ...
HELMAR Crystal Kote "Matt"

all it says it that the "Propellant" is Hydrocarbon. Is that the ingredient I am looking for.?

thanks

biki
biki,
HYDROCARBON... :evil: Take it to the recycling center, that's the propellant that is blamed for destroying the ozone layer...eeeeek! Used to be included with everything in a spray can.

Blair, Lascaux, Sennelier, probably even Grumbacher and others make a specific light varnish called "workable fixative". I don't know what is in it but it just puts a light coating on a drawing, pastel, so that you can still work on it in the medium that you're using. If you are fixing a charcoal drawing that you are going to paint on, use just enough to hold the drawing otherwise it acts different where you sprayed vs didn't spray.

Marc H

[guillot]

Just wanted to pop in and say that if you are finished with your drawing - you should reall use a light coat of final fixative, comes in the same brands already mentioned. Workable fixative is just that, "worklable" (Holding what you have of your drawing, so that you can come back and refine if you need to before you spray a "final fixtative" on it) - so when you start to paint on it, it will not always hold the drawing.

Or - you can use a light coat of spray retouch varnish.

Tina

[dcorc]

biki,
HYDROCARBON... :evil: Take it to the recycling center, that's the propellant that is blamed for destroying the ozone layer...eeeeek! Used to be included with everything in a spray can.

Errm....! That's FLUOROcarbons you're thinking of.

Dave

[Marc Hanson]

Errm....! That's FLUOROcarbons you're thinking of.

Dave

:rolleyes: Should have had my 'thinking' glasses on! Turn off the alarms!!!

Sheepishly- Marc H

[Dana Design]

You know, I was using that stuff when I was using charcoal to do my drawings and the smell of it was SO BAD! Had to spray it out of doors. The stuff is deadly.

I hated it so much that I quit using charcoal and started using watercolor pencils. Now I don't need the fixative. And I can take the colored pencils out on sketching trips and do small vignettes. It's a good thing. (Martha)

[Biki]

You know, I was using that stuff when I was using charcoal to do my drawings and the smell of it was SO BAD! Had to spray it out of doors. The stuff is deadly.

I hated it so much that I quit using charcoal and started using watercolor pencils. Now I don't need the fixative. And I can take the colored pencils out on sketching trips and do small vignettes. It's a good thing. (Martha)

So Dana, water colour pencils don't disolve when you apply the thin turpsie paint.?

( i know, i promised not to ask another question today - OOPS :evil: )

[Classic-masters]

I promise i won't ask any more questions ....... today. :D

When yu guys talk about workable fixative to spray onto the charcoal drawing on canvas, can you throw me a few other names/brands etc?

I have some spray stuff, that is about a hundred years old ...
HELMAR Crystal Kote "Matt"

all it says it that the "Propellant" is Hydrocarbon. Is that the ingredient I am looking for.?

thanks

biki

Biki,

Crystal Kote is not worksble fixative at all.
The reason I use workable fixative is to add more tooth to the canvas or board so that more charcoal will addhear better. Canvas, paper, or board will not let any more charcoal adhear when you have put so much charcoal on that all the fibers are filled up. When I want an area darker but the surface won't hold any more, then I lightly spray it with workable fixative (out doors of course). This light coating of workable fixative will make thousands of tiny plactic beads spread over the surface, which make more tooth. You then can add more charcoal and it will adhear.
Make sure you don't spray it too thick. If you do your surface will become plastic and the charcoal will not adhear to the plastic because it is too slick.

I hope that made sence.

Sherry (aka Classic-Masters)

[Lynn Larson]

This is something i'm interested in as well. Would a final fixative like what I use on my cp paintings work to keep the charcoal where it's supposed to be?
(and I don't want Biki to have to ask another question :D)

[Dana Design]

So Dana, water colour pencils don't disolve when you apply the thin turpsie paint.?

( i know, i promised not to ask another question today - OOPS :evil: )

Yes, they do dissolve but I'm already there and painting so I don't mind if it dissolves.

I also, at times, use oil sticks. I like those also and they're compatible with my paints. They're also good for fine straight lines that are difficult to do with a paint brush. No re-dipping!!

[Marc Hanson]

To Biki and others,

Even tho' I mixed up the 'flouro' and 'hydro' in carbon earlier, I would like to say something about the fixative issue in regards to fixing a drawing that is going to be painted over with opaque mediums like oil or acrylic.

There has been some mention here about the health issue with this stuff, I agree, it is the most offensive product that I have in the studio too. :evil:

So why not skip the stuff,and if you are afraid to loose the line, draw over the line with a thinned out color of your choice to fix the drawing. If you are using oil paint on an acrylic gesso ground, use an acrylic to trace over the line that you want to save, it won't go any where after that. Some use an india ink on a surface like this and that is also permanent. On an oil primed canvas or board, use a thinned out oil color and mix something like Liquin into it and it will dry enough in a few hours or over night at the most.

Here's my main suggestion...don't be so tied to the drawing that you are hesitant to work unless you can see the line. It will go a long way to loosening up the work if you do the drawing with the paint as you go.

I understand that there are some styles of working where you have to have the drawing intact for a long time, not talking to those styles.

In the normal course of painting in a more fluid style like alla prima, or even over the course of several days, that drawing should be obliterated by blocking in the painting in the first 2 or 3 hours or less.

Otherwise you're not painting...you're filling in the colors just like a coloring book!

Marc H