FAQ

There is very little difference between the two fixatives, they are both natural and non-toxic, but some of the finer differences matter.

Our Degas Fixative is made only with casein. It dries very matte and is wonderful for soft pastels, oil pastels, colored pencil and many other drawing media. It is often used to hold underdrawings underneath oil or acrylic paintings and the proteins in the milk casein actually bond with the oil paints, for a very secure hold. It dries rock hard, can be re-worked indefinitely, and can even stand up to being framed without glass.

FinalFix contains beeswax in addition to the casein, which makes for a slightly more flexible, durable fixative. It is not recommended for oil pastels, as the mineral oil and the beeswax repel each other, and will not bond, which could result in the fixative flaking off. With all other media, however, this does not happen.

FinalFix gives you the option to frame without glass, once you apply a few coats. Use your finger to gently determine if your media is fixed to the point of not smearing.

FinalFix is also re-workable, and can be layered multiple times. It is very useful for multi-media, and introducing marks into acrylic or oil paints. We do not recommend it as a final varnish on acrylic or oil paints, and discuss that point in more depth below.

It is perfectly fine to dilute Natural Glass for spraying. Adding alcohol helps preserve the Natural Glass and also helps overcome surface tension and allow the spray to blend into a uniform sheet instead of surface tension causing it to bead up on the surface. Mix together an equal amount of water and rubbing alcohol (97%) to 50/50 water /alcohol. You can also add vodka (40% alcohol) or 37% strength rubbing alcohol, but cut back on the water if you use these, because they already contain water. Nothing has to be precise for this, but just be aware that you want to have more alcohol than less. 

Add this alcohol /water mixture to an equal amount of Natural Glass for a mixture of 50/50 Alcohol-water / Natural Glass. If you want it thinner to help it spray better, add more water/alcohol to it.

Remember, casein is a natural protein and will decay unless protected. The Natural Glass contains a preservative, which will be diluted by the alcohol/water, but the alcohol should help stabilize it. More alcohol is better than less, and will also help with surface tension and spreading. Also, be aware that not all alcohols are made the same, so just mix a teensy bit of the Natural Glass into a teensy bit of the alcohol/water to test this. If the mixture remains as a uniformly cloudy liquid, you're good to go. But if the alcohol is terrible, the casein will immediately form clumps and precipitate out, like sour milk in tea makes clumps. It rarely happens, but it's worth mentioning....

All the fixatives are reworkable, and you can layer indefinitely. Spray your pastel piece as you go, every so often, to ensure the pastel is gripping the actual paper or support, so you don't just form a crust on the top by spraying at the very end. This enables you to adjust any colors that shift on you so you can maintain chromatic control. And, you won't get a shock if any colors should shift.

Be sure to spray lightly at first, and not overspray or drench. A few light coats is much better than a soaking drench. You get the hang of it after a while. In fact, it's a good idea to practice on test pieces to get a feeling for the spray on your chosen media.

At first it'll look very wet and dark, but as the fixative dries (fairly quickly) the color comes right back. If you spray as you go, by the time the piece is finished, it should be rock solid. Literally. If you feel you need a further coating, try the FinalFix. If you are feeling really brave you could use the Natural Glass Spray. Or.. you could just use the FinalFix throughout the entire process. It's going to give you plenty of tooth for layering. I would experiment with these on demo pieces and see what your process becomes. You may find you're happy with the FinalFix only or maybe with the Degas only. If you want it to look like a varnished painting, try the Natural Glass spray.

SpectraFix has the happy honor of being a fixative that does not significantly alter the appearance of soft pastels. But there can be some variation in the pastels themselves, which can affect the outcome of spraying. Some soft pastels have a variety of fillers (talc, chalk etc) which can disappear if it is wetted (and thus compacted) making the color turn transparent instead of a pale tint, and there is such a huge variety of pigments even within the same family (iron oxides, siennas, burnt umber...), it is almost impossible to predict exactly how one color from a brand is going to react to a fixative, compared to the same pigment from a different brand.

Then you have the Eye of the Beholder... Many artists cannot bear even the slightest shift, while others are perfectly content. So with all these variables it is difficult to predict how some artwork will appear after being fixed. Fixed pastel does have a slight optical shift because instead of air between the granules, now there is casein, and the light bouncing off the paper and back to your eye must now pass through the casein instead of just air. Depending if you spray several light coats or soak the heck out of it, the light bounces back slightly differently. 

Many artists enjoy using the Degas for their oil pastel drawings. It allows for further layering, and hardens over time to provide a somewhat protective coating.

FinalFix and Natural Glass do not work well with oil pastels, because the beeswax eventually delaminates (peels off) due to the mineral oil in the pastels. Oil pastels are made with a non-drying oil, generally mineral oil, which never truly dries.

UV protective additives add about 20% more longevity to your colors, but they don't protect forever, and eventually delicate pigments will show signs of fading.

Your most important line of defense against fading will always be to choose artist materials containing pigments with the highest lightfastness rating. If you work with inferior pigments, or those which are prone to fading, or student grade materials, it's going to be a losing battle.

Shielding your artwork from prolonged direct sunlight is also important, as this is quite challenging for most pigments, and also the paper or canvas.

Our products are made for artworks which are to be hung inside a home. The trade-off between a pure casein fixative and our beeswax/casein varnish, and potential for unreliability when additives are introduced, we did not feel was worth the risk, since the intended display environments are protected home interiors.

The casein and beeswax does add an element of UV protection to your artwork, but modern, lightfast pigments will win the game every time. 

We may eventually change our minds and make a varnish or fixative with a UV protective additives, but for now we don't. 
If you are creating inks or paints from botanical sources, the likelihood of them fading over time is pretty certain, but we are not experts in this field. Sounds like fun though!