harmon by Hahn confusion and print waxing

[Neil Folberg]

Hello,

I ordered a box of Harmon by Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta Warmtone - I was expecting more of a fiber base look, but this one is the very smooth alpha-cellulose base. Now I realize that there is also a paper called  Hahnemuhle Gloss FIBER BASE Baryta Warmtone? Easy to confuse.

Naturally I took out a couple sheets of the WT cellulose base paper and made a couple B&W prints (using the phatte black ink set on an epson - which can produce very mild bronzing). Out of the printer, looked nice, but it didn't quite stand up and sing next to a Paul Caponigro original print (I have a gallery here...). But then, I waxed the print using Renaissance wax - and wow! - it started singing. First, the wax covers the gloss differential; secondly, it adds depth, quite a lot - the difference between brilliance and adequacy. The wax is hard to apply normally, but it goes easily on this paper.

So now I'd like to ask - how does this alpha-cellulose base compare to the FB equivalent?
Does anyone know how stable the paper is and how much optical brighteners it has?

because it is LOVELY when waxed and I'm tempted to try this for a while and see if it suits my current exhibition project. if I do that, I'll switch the inkset to photo black for these prints and they'll look even better (no bronzing at all).

Thanks for any comments!
Neil

[Randy Carone]

Confusion is right! You have confused me. Hahnemuhle offers several Baryta papers. Fine Art Baryta is a bright white (w/OBAs) that is 100% alpha-cellulose and Photo Rag Baryta is a 100% cotton paper that warmer (no OBAs). The final one is Baryta FB, another alpha-cellulose paper with a weird purple tint. The Harman by Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta Warmtone is also an alpha-cellulose paper with no OBAs. If you did not use photo black on these paper then you have not properly evaluated their printability. Photo black is a must on these coatings. I would imagine that matte black will rub off and easily show mishandling compared to photo black and the Dmax may not be as high with matte black. I hope this helps. Please clarify about the ink you used to print the test images.

[Neil Folberg]

Hi Randy,

Sorry if I was confusing -

I used the Harmon by Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta Warmtone with Alpha-Cellulose base with photo black ink printed with Imageprint v5. Then I waxed it by hand. It looks great!

You said it has no OBAs.  Do you know anything about the stability of this paper?

Can you compare it with the Photo Rag Baryta cotton paper?

Many thanks,
Neil

[Kirk Gittings]

What kind of wax and application technique are you talking about?

[Neil Folberg]

Renaissance wax, acid free, non-yellowing, made in England - used to be available from Light Impressions (maybe it still is). Originally made for furniture.

You apply it by hand - lots of photographers used to use it on gelatin prints: Edward Weston, Paul Strand ...

I often use it on glossy inkjet paper, but it's hard to apply evenly on very large prints. You use just a little on a soft cotton cloth, do it again, then polish it carefully. It takes a few minutes for an A3 print and if you ask me, adds quite a lot of brilliance.

Neil

[texshooter]

How does renaissance wax compare to breathing color timeless varnish?
Is the wax for PK papers and the varnish for MK papers?

[Neil Folberg]

I've never used any wax but this one ... I have no idea.

[neile]

Very interesting, gonna have to try this waxing thing. FWIW, Amazon sells it so no need to subject yourself to Light Impressions.

http://www.amazon.com/Picreator-65mL-can-Renaissance-Micro-Crystalline/dp/B001DSZWEM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319672038&sr=8-1

Neil

[davidh202]

Ok, you like the look but...
 
even though it has supposedly been developed over 50 years ago by the British Museum and used for fine art restoration,
does anyone have a clue as to whether or not it is actually compatable with Epsons or anyone elses contemporary Inksets ?
Fine art Inks from back in the day are most assuredly a entirely different formulation.

Has Aardenberg or Wilhelm done testing ?

[Light Seeker]

does anyone have a clue as to whether or not it is actually compatable with Epsons or anyone elses contemporary Inksets ?

Renaissance wax works fine with Epson inks (3800) on glossy media. On matte media it makes the print darker and is very difficult or impossible to spread. It seems to absorb into the paper. I waxed some qlossy prints about a year ago and they still look fine. I've not tried it yet with a print from my Canon, but I don't anticipate a problem.

How does renaissance wax compare to breathing color timeless varnish?

Timeless will work on either matte or gloss media. While I have no way to measure it, I believe the Timeless coating is thicker than the Renaissance wax coating, and therefore offers better physical protection. To match Dmax and saturation on an uncoated matte print I had to use a mix of gloss and matte, which adds a slight sheen to the finished print. It also obscures the surface texture a bit.

I found Timeless on gloss to be of limited value. Coating gloss media with straight Timeless gloss adds a lot of sheen; too much for my tastes. Mixing any matte in to tone that back obscures the print somewhat. The silica in Timeless matte is apparent even when mixing only a small amount in with the gloss.

A gloss print coated with Renaissance wax does not substantively change the look of the original media, other than to improve it as Neils notes.

Another option for gloss media, btw, is Clearstar ClearJet A2000. This product seems to match the gloss of a Platine print (8300) quite nicely. Of course there are fumes to deal with and this approach looks like it will be more expensive.

Terry.

[deanwork]

The Harmon Baryta Warmtone or the whiter versions I've been using have no bronzing with the Canon 8300, even with black and white. It is spectacular and beyond any of the others I've used on any of these printers. The Harmon and the Canon is a perfect combination.  It didn't give me this result with my HPZ. One cool thing I like to do is to print a kind of selenium toned ink on it which gives a warm highlight and cool-neutral shadows.

I made some comment a couple of weeks ago on this forum that I hoped that Hahnemuhle wouldn't eliminate it or ruin it now that they've taken it over. I got an off list email from someone at Hahnemuhle telling me that they intended to keep it just like it is. Let's hope that is the case because none of the Hahneuhle fiber gloss papers come close, and I'm totally hooked on it now.

john