Waxing Watercolours

I will go and look at that as it's completely new to me as well. Just seen the video and it looks great , I often think mounts and frames can look boring. I will have another watch, she is talking about a light spray varnish/ fixative to use as the first step. Something I have never seen with water colour. Ta for that link.

I've heard of varnishing watercolour, never waxing in quite this way, and have never seen it done: I'll click on the link and have a look tomorrow - occupied today. Wax has been used for thousands of years in painting, and water-based pigments (generally) mixed or protected with wax have come down to us in excellent condition - eg, painted sarcophagi, coffins, portraits painted on tombs. It repels water, protects the surface, it can be polished lightly, and it enhances colours. These painted coffins are of middle-eastern origin, and yet the wax has neither melted nor deteriorated. Maybe it was beeswax - in fact it probably would have been, wouldn't it..... I remember a watercolour made by Staedtler that was mixed with wax, but then withdrawn on safety grounds - I've no idea what these were, and can't imagine what they might have been. It was an excellent paint, and I miss it; it's not available in pots any more, but can be bought in coloured pencil sticks - nowhere near as practical. And I believe the American company Natural Pigments, from which I receive a lot of information about oil paint and related matters, is producing a wax-based paint - in the USA at least: with any luck, it'll come over here. In passing - I think the USA is (Michael Harding oils apart) where the most interesting research into painting materials is taking place these days: our own companies, most of them gobbled up by Euro-conglomerates, are just churning out what they've always produced, plus a lot of material for the leisure painter market which is designed to please the instant-results enthusiasts but is of doubtful long-term quality - but I admit that's another subject entirely.