Latex

For the last month I have been attempting to catch my graphite drawings in latex. It has been an ongoing problem and is something that I have now given up on.

The original plan was to create a sheet of latex, wait til it was almost dry, then create the drawing on the top surface.

Although I had some success with this, with the drawing successfully being made and captured, I have had continual problems with the latex itself.

Firstly, I had problems in creating the latex sheet, trying to find a suitable surface to make it on that would allow me to pour the liquid latex and hold it whilst it dried. After multiple attempts at different surfaces, I finally stopped at non stick baking trays that seemed to work the best. Despite this, it also led to new problems, with it becoming almost impossible to remove the latex from the baking rays without completely destroying the drawings (due to the latex stretching and holes being made in the sheet.)

I also had the major problem with the time that the latex took to dry. Thick layers of the latex took weeks to dry, even with hardening agent added to it. I began to make very thin layers at a time, waiting til the first coat was completely dry before adding another, building them up. This was very time consuming and still did not work particularly well with the surface becoming marked and yellowing. Also due to the time that it took to dry, the latex also picked up fibres from the room that I was unable to stop, making the latex dirty and marked.

I have now given up on using latex and have moved on to other materials that will hopefully successfully trap the graphite.