Sunday, Nov. 05, 2006 - 11:10 a.m.

There, I've renewed my Gold Membership. Happy? (I think I need to change my layout to celebrate, but not today).

Anyway, varnish update (I know this is what you've all been waiting for):

Drawbacks: The new varnish is stinky (I'll need to adjust the ventilation in the room to avoid killing myself with fumes over time), requires minerla spirits to clean up, takes four times as long to dry, and does indeed leave a slight yellowish tint after three or so coats. This is cool in some contexts (it gives the black and white photos a subtle, cool antique look), but completely undesirable in others. But I'm not sure if the color difference would be noticeable to anyone other than me.

On the other hand, it is, as previously mentioned, extremely glossy, UV-protecting, scratch resistant, and best of all, seems to require many fewer coats to get the look I'm going for. Like, three coats per side instead of 8. That would be a huge time saver in active production time, lopping the part spent sanding and varnishing in half. Per piece, a very small gain, but cumulatively, quite a lot. Is it worth the abovementioned drawbacks, though? Hurm. If only it were actually totally clear. That would clinch the deal.

I guess I need to do a little experiment to see how much difference the color thing really makes.

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