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Old 1st April 2014, 02:25 PM
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vincent vincent is offline
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Default Creating a gloss finish

Yesterday I stuck a test strip to a sheet of glass. The image was facing the glass, I then held the paper in place with tape. This morning when I removed the print from the glass it had a beautiful gloss finish to it. I will admit the finish was a little uneven in places and I wonder has anyone tried this technique and prefected it. The paper was Ilford MG IV FB WT.
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Old 1st April 2014, 02:36 PM
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I have tried using a FB print dryer with glazing sheet. It is highly prone to not getting an even finish. i.e. you will ruin far more prints than you will suceed with. All surface water must be removed. Print must be in perfect contact all over glazing surface. Wetting agent may help.

There are big machines out there that will do this more reliably but I suspect you would find the process using glasss or FB print dryer to be a real pain.
Actually just using a FB print dryer, without glazing sheet, increases gloss surface quite a lot but not as much as a glazing sheet.

p.s. If you want high gloss surface then RC paper is reliable.

Last edited by Argentum; 1st April 2014 at 02:52 PM.
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Old 1st April 2014, 02:51 PM
Michael Michael is offline
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Vincent - It might be useful to experiment with keeping the print in contact with the glass by pressure (weight) rather than with tape?
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Old 1st April 2014, 02:56 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is online now
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Sqeegeing a print against glass was a common way of producing a high gloss.

I had a rotary glazer for a few years but rarely used it as I prefer a semi gloss surface.

Steaming a print over boiling water will also increase the gloss compared to an air dried print. Needs care though

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Old 2nd April 2014, 05:56 AM
Luis Luis is offline
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You do not need neither tape or pressure, but you need a perfectly clean and polished glass to achieve such glaze, same that with a glazing sheet.

A roller squeegee helps to avoid bubbles which ends in uneven finish, also using something like super flat helps. Procedure is described in many manuals.
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Old 2nd April 2014, 08:02 AM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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I remember something called oxgall being used to improve gloss with glass and glazing sheets. Glass was in common use by amateurs for cold, overnight (24 hour) glazing. It was prepared by rubbing with a white powder - was it chalk? Or French chalk?
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Old 4th May 2014, 09:58 PM
darkroommike darkroommike is offline
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Default white substance

The white powder was Bon Ami, useful to shine up glass or metal tins before glazing. Never used Ox Gall but the glazing solution of choice (back when it was still available) was Pakosol (at least in the US). Primarily for those gigantic glazing dryers that were once a common fixture in photofinishing labs, it also worked quite well with ferrotype tins.

When I first started doing this I was told to use only Bon Ami Cake not the powder and that's the way I used to do it.
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Old 5th May 2014, 12:16 AM
ymgandy ymgandy is offline
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Used to clean the glass with white vinegar then squeezee the print face down to the glass. Never tried sticking it down, it would curl up & jump of the glass when dry with a high gloss finish. That was using FB paper but some of the RC gloss papers have a high shine to them if that is what you are after.
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Old 5th May 2014, 09:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vincent View Post
Yesterday I stuck a test strip to a sheet of glass. The image was facing the glass, I then held the paper in place with tape. This morning when I removed the print from the glass it had a beautiful gloss finish to it. I will admit the finish was a little uneven in places and I wonder has anyone tried this technique and prefected it. The paper was Ilford MG IV FB WT.
Vincent, gloss paper is available.
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Old 8th May 2014, 01:02 AM
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The traditional way to get gloss was used by Paul Strand and others in the 1920s and 1930s. It involved lithographers varnish diluted about 1+6 with distilled turpentine being spread on a photograph with a cotton ball. Then followed a thorough process of wiping off as much varnish as possible with more cotton balls. The result is an enhanced gloss with improved blacks. The downside is that the varnish eventually yellows (less than 100 years) and conservators hate it.
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