More on Glassless Framing for Pastels - Japanese Chin

I've completed the little Japanese Chin dog and have been working on finishing it for glassless framing.  I used the PVA glue method for the pastel layers and that worked well, I've never had a problem using diluted PVA.
However, I have had problems with the final varnish coats this time.  I'm using Golden's UV Gloss Varnish for the final, protective coats and have gotten tiny little bubbles.  Golden says to watch for these (and also foam) when applying with a brush but it doesn't say how to get rid of them if you get them!

So, I've had to let the portrait dry completely then I've used a very fine sandpaper to sand out the bubbles then  I've used ammonia to smooth and even out any marks that were left.  I don't know if this i the correct way to handle the bubbles but it seems to have worked for me.  If anyone knows of a better way, please let me know!

BTW, if you use ammonia in any way, please open a window or make sure there is plenty of ventilation and don't expose yourself to it for more than a few seconds at a time!  Ammonia can do great damage to lungs!

I want to add that I tried brushing on the varnish this time and do not recommend doing that at all.  You get a much nicer finish if you spray on the varnish.

It's been frustrating for me but I hope my experience helps someone else in the future!

Pastel Glassless Framing - Instructions

Since there are so many artists interested in glassless framing of watercolors, colored pencil and pastel, I thought I'd share the process of my latest attempt.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I've been experimenting with glassless framing for a long time. Glassless watercolor preparation or glassless colored pencil preparation is no problem and very easy. However, trying to prepare pastel for framing without glass did not work well for me.

I tried the methods of many artists who had gone before me in this new, experimental process but my light colored pastel areas always "melted" away or dissolved and I wasn't happy with any project I tried.

However, with Libby, I'm on my fourth coat of the diluted PVA and have not had to touch up much at all! Whoooo hooooo, praise God! So, what have I done differently this time?

I used the Ampersand PastelBord as usual (you can use other surfaces and I'll explain how later) but I did not use the pastel pencils much on this painting! That's evidently the key to successfully framing pastel without glass! I used mostly the Richardson pastel sticks and some Rembrandt soft pastels this time around with touches of the pastel pencils in the details.

I also used diluted PVA as my isolation barrier instead of the Golden Soft Gel but I don't think that was a major factor in the success this time.

Anyway, I am very pleased with the glassless prep of this painting and look forward to more paintings prepared this way.

I know you're wanting to know the exact process and I can only tell you how I do it. I've had input from many different artists who were very generous in sharing their methods (you can go back in my blog for their names and links) but the main thrust came from Jana at Phinearts blogspot. I just modified her methods to suit my way of working and chose products that were convenient for me to get and that I knew were archival.

OK, here we go:

1. Choose a support that can handle water and will not deteriorate over time - paper by itself is not a good choice. As I stated above, I use the PastelBord but I've heard of artists using the PVA to glue paper to hardboard cradles then proceeding with the painting after the glue was dry. Or some (brave souls if you ask me!) glue their finished work on paper to a hardboard cradle then proceed with their glassless method of choice. (You can find out about either method by searching on Google or some other search engine.) I have not tried to use velour or other "fabric-like" supports for the glassless framing & don't think it would work well. I think the nap of the fabric may be difficult to seal. However, maybe some day I'll take a small test piece and try it.

2. After your pastel is finished, we begin the process of preparing it to be framed without glass. Because your typical varnish will probably yellow over time, most artists use an isolation barrier of some kind of archival, non-yellowing material between the art and the varnish. That way the varnish can be removed and re-applied without damaging the actual painting should it become necessary.

I use about 4 coats of the PVA glue/sizing as the barrier in my paintings. I spray these coats to avoid disturbing the layers of pastel and I found a nifty gadget that is the perfect sprayer! I do have an airbrush but it's a real pain to drag out and the compressor is kept in the barn because my husband uses it more there. Anyway, it's just a whole lot easier to use a Preval sprayer. These sprayers can be found in automotive parts stores, some paint stores, and some home improvement stores. They're extremely reasonable in price and the gas canister lasts a very, very long time.

I dilute the PVA to the ratio of 1 part PVA and 9 parts water, stir it well and start the spray off the painting then sweep across it lightly back and forth until it's all been covered. Then turn the painting on its side and do the same thing again. I spray with the painting propped up but lay it down on its back to dry.

Clean your Preval sprayer thoroughly after each use: spray some warm water through it for a few seconds then I store the nozzle and the stem in water until I'm ready to use it again. I've had the nozzle and the screen in the stem get clogged even after I thought the sprayer was completely clean so it's worthwhile to take extra precautions.

Let each coat of the PVA dry thoroughly. This doesn't take long if you haven't sprayed too heavily. If necessary, touch up the pastel between coats. The PVA does darken the painting some but not nearly as much as other sprays have done. On the painting of Libby, I decided it wasn't enough to worry about.

3. After your coats of PVA have thoroughly dried, you can varnish the painting to protect it. I use Golden's Polymer Varnish with UVLS which is both archival and also protects against ultra violet damage. I use 3 coats of the varnish letting it dry between coats.

A note of caution here - even if you want a matte finish to your painting, make the first 2 coats a gloss finish with the final coat the matte finish. That is because there are particles in matte sprays that dull the shine. Too many coats of a matte finish will make the painting look "milky" or "foggy". The gloss finish is totally clear, and, to be honest I actually prefer the gloss for all 3 coats. It's not as shiny as you might think it would be and you save by not having to buy both the gloss and matte (or satin) varnishes. However, you'll have to make that judgment for yourself. Experiment to see what you like best - you can even mix the gloss and matte to get the perfect look you like.

I use the Golden products in my Preval sprayer because I've heard they're the most archival and there's no smell and less harm to the lungs than when using aerosols. Jana and others use aerosol UV sprays like Krylon UV Clear or other products like it. It's certainly more convenient to use the aerosols but, again, that's a decision you'll have to make for yourself. It's best to spray them outdoors though. If you look at the photo above, you'll see that I made a cardboard "spray booth" so I can spray indoors where drying factors are more consistent. However, I wouldn't want to spray an aerosol inside.

And that's it. It's really a simple process. It does take some time and some touch up may be necessary but I think it's actually quicker than trying to frame with glass if you don't count the drying times of the PVA and the varnish. Plus, it's a much safer way to ship a painting!

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll try to answer them. If you don't know about the products I've mentioned, please do a search to learn more about them. There's a plethora of information on the internet!

Finally! Glassless Breakthrough (I Think!)

Artists are some of the most giving and sharing people I know! I've been almost fixated (pun intended) on glassless framing and have been in touch with many artists who were willing to share their methods and offer help and comments to me. Out of all the artists I contacted, only one didn't respond to my email and she may not have received it.

A couple of days ago I received an email from Jana at It's a Phine Life blogspot. She was very gracious and had answered my initial inquiry about glassless framing and we've emailed back and forth about it a few times.

Her last email included a close up of a pastel that she's working on and also a link to a watercolor that she painted on AquaBord and finished in a glassless manner. Little lightbulbs started going off in my head as I realized that the acrylic varnish I have been using is probably what is causing my dissatisfaction with my glassless framing results.

Her results were much different than what I've achieved and her methods for framing without glass are also different. For her pastels, she uses PVA for the sealing and sprays as she works. This results in little loss of the texture of the pastel. She also works on canvas although I haven't determined if that is a factor since PastelBord is also textured and she prepares her canvases to be wet-sanded fairly smooth so the normal canvas texture is changed. The final difference is that she uses soft pastels instead of pastel pencils.

As I studied her results then looked at mine, I saw that my varnished paintings looked like those acyrlic resin poured objects so popular in the late '70s and early '80s. You can't tell the difference between the mediums in my paintings but if you're using an acrylic product as thickly as I am, the result is bound to end up looking like an acrylic!

While I would like to have the UV protection of the Golden medium/varnish that I'm using, I really prefer the look of the pastels sealed with the PVA. It may be that I can achieve that look using a thinner application of the Golden varnish plus more build up of the pastel. I don't know, I just know that more experimenting is in order!

Thanks so much, Jana!

More Glassless Framing Experiments

Pastel Experiment

I've played around a bit more with the glassless framing and pretty much combined advice from several sources to try to find a method that would suit me and my way of working.

I like the idea of using the Golden materials as suggested by Gary Ruuska but dragging out all the air brush paraphernalia and the air compressor (which is actually my husbands and is noisy and bigger than I like) just isn't my idea of fun. The Golden products have UV protectants in them though and I do like that so I used the Preval sprayer per the directions in the email from Bob Palmerton. That sprayer is the cat's pajamas for the small amount of spraying that I'm doing. It's easily found in automotive parts or hardware stores or can be ordered online. It's not expensive at all and a canister of propellant seems to last and last. The spray is fine enough to give a nice finish to the art work too.

Since I have messed up so many Ampersand Pastelbord panels (and Ampersand isn't backing my experiments!), I decided to do my experimenting on regular matboard pieces and that seems to be working out well. The flower above is on a dark green matboard and I want to try a light color just to see if the colors darken as much when sprayed. BTW, the colors shown are pretty much the colors I ended up with after spraying. They darkened considerably and I did use progressively lighter colors but ran out of lighter colors that would work.

Teresa Mallen left a comment on my last post here and I wanted to reassure her about the Lascaux fixative and suggest she talk to Nicole Caulfield about it on colored pencil. I use pastel pencils for the most part which are water soluable to begin with. Colored pencil has wax or oil which would resist moisture plus, I read that Nicole uses a blender on top of colors that tend to change color or melt which preserves the color when sprayed. I may try that on top of my pastels just to see if it helps.

But, actually, right now, I think the process is much too long and too much trouble to make it worthwhile for pastels. Maybe in the future some product will come along that doesn't darken the pastel but will still seal it so that the art can be varnished and framed without glass.

As it is, I'm doing a pastel painting, spraying it with the diluted Golden Soft Gel as an isolation barrier, letting that dry then going back over the darkened areas with a lighter color (if I have one), respraying, letting that layer dry & on & on until I have a painting I'm satisfied with. Perhaps a landscape would be different as color changes maybe wouldn't be as obvious, but people expect their pet to have the correct color. Maybe at some point, I'll automatically know the light color with which to replace the color that darkens and avoid the back and forth of using progressively lighter colors. But, I wonder too if the build up is necessary to end up with the right color?

I'm not giving up entirely. I'll continue to experiment since I have all the necessary mediums to do so but I'm just not holding my breath that there will be a huge break-through in this area anytime soon.

Again, if anyone has any information about varnishing pastels, please feel free to contact me!

More on Glassless Framing

Well, I apologize for being a little slack posting here but I've been trying to find more information on framing pastels without glass. It's become rather an obsession in a way, but I just know in my innermost being that it can be done.

One of the questions I get from other pastel artists is "should it be done?" "Why cover pastel with a protective finish?" "Why isn't glass good enough any more?" "What about tradition?"

First, let me say that I love the look of a traditional pastel. It's one of the reasons I took up pastel in the first place.

However I don't like that pastel is so delicate nor the fact that great care has to be taken to frame and protect it. It doesn't ship well, especially to countries overseas. If there's a way to overcome these negative points of pastel and still retain the beauty of it, I'd really like to know about it.

As for tradition, well - what good is a traditional pastel if it accidentally gets bumped and all the pastel falls off? Doesn't using fixative to prevent this falling off make the painting less traditional anyway? Glassless framing basically just increases the amount of fixative so that the pastel dust is completely covered.

There's lots to explore here. I paint pet portraits mainly. I doubt very seriously if I'll ever be hailed as the next Rembrandt or anything close for that matter. The average person who commissions a pet portrait from me has a lot going on in their homes. If you've ever seen a cat high on cat nip, then you might be able to see the wisdom of a pastel painting with a glassless finish!

But, I'm getting off track here. My original purpose for this post was to publicly thank all the artists who have responded to my requests for information on this subject or who have piqued my curiosity to begin with. The generosity of artists in general never ceases to amaze me.

Nicole Caulfield got the wheels turning for me when she posted about the glassless framing of colored pencil at an art forum I belong to. Of course there's a difference in pastel and colored pencil but she had some of the same issues as I've experienced - namely color shifts/darkening of the pigment and the pigment just melting away. Her posts sent me in search of other pastel artists who may have been experimenting with this process to see if glassless framing could actually work with pastel.

Gary Ruuska, a contemporary of Nicole Caulfield, and an exquisitely talented colored pencil artist himself, was the first to respond to an email from me asking about his method of sealing and varnishing colored pencil. He began with Nicole's method but eventually developed a method of his own that didn't use the smelly aerosol sprays.

I found Sandra K. Jackoboice, a pastel artist, by searching for glassless framing of pastels. She was generous enough that her process was posted on her website for download. It was her article that gave me real hope that glassless pastel framing could actually work.

Bob Palmerton is the latest artist to respond to my request for more information on his process. Because his method is specific to pastels, his very generous reply was very helpful.

William Ross with the Pastel Society of the Ozarks also responded to an email from me with information.

I just want to thank all of them for the help they've given me. Thank you all!