Varnish and Framing an ET

[Anonymous]

Hi :grin:

I finished an ET about 6 months ago. I have read about different opinions on varnishing or not. Right now there is no varnish on the painting. If anyone would like to contribute their personal experiences with this, I would be happy to hear it.

My question is how should it be framed? Some of the framers I have spoke with don't even know what Egg Tempera is, let alone how to treat it. Is there any special acid free materials that should be used? Should I put it under glass?

Thanks in Advance,

Lori

[Rosemary]

I put my ETs under glass only if they are going to the home of a smoker. Otherwise, I just advise the purchaser that they can be scratched or abraded by careless handling, but should be safe hung on the wall. I suggest they use a feather duster on the frame and try to avoid rubbing the lower edge of the painting when dusting the frame.

I saw a Robert Vickery in a New York gallery that carries his work and it was unglassed. I asked about it, and they replied that in the rare instance where one has gotten scratched, they send it to Vickery and he repairs them.

After learning that, I have written on the back of my work what pigments I used, in case I need to repair it sometime in the future.

As far as framing goes, if the painting has gilding in it, I either gild the frame to match or I use a molding that does not have pure gold next to the gilt areas as they never match. I do not take any special precautions with the frame otherwise.

[RobM]

I always put my paintings behind glass before they go out to galleries. In transit it is all too easy for them to be damaged.


I frame my works in the following manner.......

http://www.eggtempera.com/avatars/framing.jpg

The painted panel (2) is permanently attached to a backing panel (1)
Plain moulding (3) surrounds the backing panel and stands proud of the painted panel. Glass (4) sits between the plain moulding and the outer moulding (5).
The two mouldings are held together with small brass eyelets and screws.
The backing panel and plain moulding are painted in a neutral colour.



A note on the reverse of the painting indicates to the purchaser that the glass is optional and may be removed after a year of completion of the piece of work. However, if the painting is subject to a smokey atmosphere it is best to leave the glass on.

There is all sorts of conflicting advice about varnishing.....personally I do not.
Rob

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses...and the clever diagram.

Thats exactly what I was looking for!

Lori

[LaurieO]

Rob- what material do you usually use as a backing panel?

Laurie
Cape Cod, MA

[RobM]

Laurie
It is all MDF and 6mm thick (1/4 inch in your currency)
Recently I have been having problems with slight warping of panels, something I've not had much problem before.
I am now making up my panels attached to the backing board.
This also makes life easier at the easel. As there is an extra 2.5 inches around the panel to rest your hand on.
Rob

[jason_maranto]

I would use 100% rag museum boards for filler/mats if needed... although you want to get the unbuffered -- the protein content of the egg tempera may react negatively to an overly alkaline environment.

My preference is to keep tempera's behind museum glass if at all possible... varnish by it's very nature(meant to be removed) could be very detrimental to a thin film painting structure like tempera.


Jason.

[LaurieO]

Thanks Rob and Jason! :)

Laurie
Cape Cod, MA USA

[peter kashur]

[quote="Rosemary"]I put my ETs under glass only if they are going to the home of a smoker. Otherwise, I just advise the purchaser that they can be scratched or abraded by careless handling, but should be safe hung on the wall. I suggest they use a feather duster on the frame and try to avoid rubbing the lower edge of the painting when dusting the frame.

a local collectors housekeeper decided that the freckles on the model's forehead in a painting by canada's best known egg tempera painter was 'dirt' and proceeded to scour them off.... right down to the gesso.....the collector ended up sending the painting to new york to be restored. i don't know if he was too embarrassed to send the painting back to the artist or whether it was 'cheaper' to send it to new york...i'm sure glass would have slowed the housekeeper down a might...not my painting so i find humour in the telling; thought i'd share...

peter (i don't use glass, but then i don't have a housekeeper : D)

[Anonymous]

A few weeks ago I varnished 2 ET paintings on wood panels with 2 coats of Damar (before I read the interesting posts on varnish on this forum!) and am very unhappy with one in particular in which small air bubbles formed, leaving the glossy surface quite bumpy (not to mention a couple of dog hairs that found their way into it). Question: is there any way I can remove the varnish without harming the ET?? THANK YOU for any help you can provide - Dana

[turlogh]

Question: is there any way I can remove the varnish without harming the ET?
One of the reasons to use dammar is that it can be removed fairly easily (in the normal course of events, it should be removed and replaced every 50 years or so as it soaks up environmental contaminants and becomes yellower and more brittle).

Dammar is soluble in turpentine. ET is not. Working slowly and carefully, using cotton swabs or cotton balls moistened with good-quality turpentine, you can take the dammar off without affecting the ET.

Good luck.

[Dennis H]

Back to Rob's post:
Rob, what do you use to attach the painting panel to the backing board? Do you ever have trouble with it delaminating?
Thanks,
D.

[RobM]

Dennis,
I use a product called NoNails which is a very strong wood adhesive.
The gessoed panel is 6mm thick MDF and so is the backing board. Makes for quite a heavy picture. No delamination as yet and I have been using this method for quite a few years. I cannot physically pull apart two pieces of wood that have been glued with this product which is applied with a sealant gun.
Just going back to glass issue.........I have now stopped putting the works behind glass as quite a few viewers found that they were really purchasing an expensive morror. They prefer to view the works without the glass and it is less expense and hassle for me when framing. (Plus the weight issue with my large pieces.) So far, no paintings have been damaged.
Rob

[T Newson]

I have a question in response to Jason Maranto's post: he wrote: "I would use 100% rag museum boards for filler/mats if needed... although you want to get the unbuffered -- the protein content of the egg tempera may react negatively to an overly alkaline environment."

I thought the buffering was done with calcium carbonate - it's neutral pH, correct? So not alkaline?

However I find the detail about protein reacting negatively with alkaline materials to be interesting, one more item to put in my trove of ET related facts!

I am new here and have been reading this post. I know nothing of ET painting as I am just learning. Frankly you are scaring me. Can ET really be scratched that easily? The ET paintings I have seen in museums didn't show this much ware and tare and they had no glass over them. How much more fragile are they than say oil?

[RobM]

Danny,
As you read more and more posts you will get even more scared :!:
Egg tempera is unlike any other mediums and for me the fun is learning to control a medium that wants to control you. It does take a while to get to know the handling characteristics of tempera and we are all here to help you.
Back to your question, yes egg tempera is a fragile paint in its early stages and should be protected. Since the beginning of this post I have been persuaded by a couple of my galleries not to hide the works behind glass. I just insist that the galleries take extra care with the works.
Initially the paint is quite soft and leathery but as time goes by an the chemical reactions in the paint diminish the paint does alter and becomes very hard and less likely to damage.
Rob

[APD453]

:-( I am from Greece and I have a big problem with the varnish. I am painter of traditional Christian Icons on wood. I am looking for a good varnish thinner with white spirit (specialy mat). I used at the past a lot of varnishes but I had alot of problems. Same of them are sticky and same of them are being white. I used at the past Sigma Mat varnish and was very very good but from the factory stop to produce it.
There is anyone who knows a very good varnish for aggtempera on wood.
My e-mail adress is apd453@yahoo.gr.
This site is excelent!!!!!!!!!
Thanks alot

[jeff]

I've been experimenting a bit lately with varnish and would point out that it will also affect the colour - some colours more than others. I have been using damar varnish and also beeswax varnish. My judgment is that the beeswax works best if it is applied in several thin coats and then polished carefully. It doesn't seem to have a strong effect on the colours and in fact in some paintings can enhance the colour depth perfectly. It really is a case of suck it and see.

I do have a question about using acrylic varnishes though. Has anyone done that?

jeff bryant

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

I dont use acrylic varnish on acrylics and I dought if I would use it on a fresh ET painting, maybe after 2 years or so when the ET is stable.

but beewax is great!

just stick to the beewax!

[JeanM]

I seem to remember reading that bees wax darkens with age. Has anyone else heard this? Maybe I'm wrong. I have also tried damar and it worked well on one painting after I buffed like crazy to remove the false-looking sheen. I have read that damar will yellow with age, though. I have also used a matt acrylic varnish and it's OK, but actually I prefer no varnish at all.
Jean

[Alessandra Kelley]

Damar does yellow, and darken, and it cracks, too. And it seeps into Ultramarine Blue and changes it from velvety bright blue to glossy tansparent blue-black. Basically, damar varnish adds most of the disadvantages of oil paint to an egg tempera painting.

I don't think beeswax actually darkens with age.

[jeff]

I've been thinking about the darkening of wax varnish and think there may be some truth in it. I have a lot of bleached beeswax stored in a shed that gets quite hot during summer and some time ago I went to get some more and found the top layer was slightly darker than the rest. I suppose it is an oxidising process.

On the other hand one way of making bleached beeswax is to expose it to lots of sunlight which would seem to say that constant exposure to light will make it more transparent.

It could be that in lots of recipes for wax varnish there is also damar added which we do know to darken. I only have applied it dissolved on its own in turpentine in quite thin coats - just enough to allow an even polish.

After looking through all my literature on egg tempera I also have come across references that seem to cast some doubt on the use of egg white with regard to darkening. Whether this applies to glair
- which I think is also called egg water - may be another issue. I'd like to get to some result on this because I do think there needs to be some protection for the painting and I don't like glass.

jeffB