Cheap Enhancement of Printed Photos

The cheap printers does his work very well, but the printed photos are very sensitive:
any droplet of water ruins them.

The "photo" paper to print photos is very expensive. The normal paper provides regular results.

I used normal 75g A4 paper for this try. My printer is a HP multifunction 1200 series.

Step 1: The Recipe

You can protect them very fastly, easily and cheaply.

You need:
-An iron whith temperature control
-a stearin or paraffin candle
-a casserole or pot

Step 2: Doing

--Set the iron temperature in LOW-MIDI.
--Connect it to the electric line.
--Put the iron over the casserole, with the hot plate up.
--Put the paper over the hot plate. The print can be up or down.
--Slide the candle over the surface. The paraffine must melt and impregnate the paper

Step 3: Reviewing the Work

Obviously, the result of the above process is uneven. We need to remove excess wax.

You can use kitchen towels, scrap paper, or so. I used printed paper. The clean face is touching the fotos.

Below I put another sheet of paper.

Then carefully slide the plate on the paper sandwich.

Excess paraffin was absorbed by the top and bottom papers.

Step 4: Ending

Analyzing the back of the photos, you can see is lacking some paraffin. It should be uniform, do the work again for this points.

Now, the photos are almost water-proof!

Another way to preserve your photos is to use spray colorless varnish, in 3 or 4 layers. The problem is that the varnish is never really colorless, and the photos gets yellow.

Comments

[skinned_kitten]

You could also just use wax paper to iron on and the wax from the wax paper should saturate your picture better and more evenly

[PattyP17]

I believe waxed paper will make the photo cloudy I've seen other crafts done with items sandwiched between sheets of waxed paper and it never turns clear.

[rimar2000]

Surely it depends on the type of wax you use. I used a candle, maybe it is parafin or a blend of waxes. It worked well for me. .

[PattyP17]

I meant to include the fact that the waxed paper will stick to the photo during ironing and the wax will not come off the paper like you are thinking.

[rimar2000]

I think the wax in the paper will be not enough to transfer to the photo.

[rimar2000]

Thanks for the suggestion, skinned_kitten. Frankly, I did not even know there is such a wax paper. Anyway, my method is cheaper, and effective.

[PattyP17]

waxed paper is the paper one used to wrap sandwiches in befoe plastic wrap was invented. It still has it's uses. It does not melt like plastic does.

Funny story: My sister was never much of a cook and decided to make a jelly roll. You are supposed to line the bottom and sides of a flat pan with waxed paper to bake the cake part in a hot oven. Being a child of the 60's, she thought it meant plastic wrap. Obviously, she ruined her baking pan.

[cope07]

 Another (admittedly more expensive option) is to use some clear artist's fixative.  It can give you matter or gloss prints that are protected and they are not soaked in wax.  It is still probably a cheaper solution that photo paper

[rimar2000]

Yes, the clear artist's fixative is quite expensive, and photo papel too.

[kstruve]

A cheap alternative to artist's fixative is a can of cheap aerosol hairspray. I used to use it in art classes. It works just as well as fixative but you can get it for a couple bucks a can.

[PattyP17]

Um... I've tried hairspray and some of it stays sticky forever, and never dries.

[rimar2000]

That is a very good info, thanks.

[Louise542]

I really like this idea! I, too, have printed pictures on regular paper - because photo paper IS expensive - and I've been disappointed with the results, BUT this sounds like it would really enhance the quality of the printed photos. Thank you for the Instructable!

[rimar2000]

Yes, this procedure enhance the prints, but you do'nt wait magic. You can also soak the paper in melted wax, and perhaps get better results, but this is more laborious.