Spectrafix is completely non-toxic, and I have very serious health issues that cause me to be extremely sensitivities to all chemicals. So I was excited to purchase this as a fixative for my charcoal and pastel drawings. After much trail and error, I realized that the best way to use this is in many very light layers, letting each layer dry about 10 - 15 minutes between each one. This works best with thin drawings, but if you keep building and building layers of this spray it will eventually work. At least for me, with my type of artwork. I usually do mixed media with lots of texture and such. I have not noticed large droplet marks (spray the art piece on the wall, not laying flat down, and you will get fewer droplet marks) but again, I tend to have lots of texture to begin with. I use this over graphite drawings as well when I do not want to them to smudge.

This has never changed the color of my artwork, like the chemical sprays do!!! BIG huge bonus there as a professional and finicky artist. This takes more time than the heavy duty chemical-filled sprays, but this will not make you ill from using it! This is natural and has actually been used for hundreds of years. I don't think that any charcoal / pastel adhesives actually make charcoal / pastel completely smudge free without intense layers.

Another great tip with this is to use it AS you create your art layers, not just on top of the final art piece! That helps a TON!! ...Good luck friends. Be patient, and use the best products for your beautiful creations!!

SpectraFix is great for setting charcoal. It darkens chalk, so not crazy about it for that. Not meant for heavy paints.

I recommend this product to all my drawing students as it doesn’t have the dangerous organic vapors in it and does a pretty good job fixing charcoal and/or pencil drawings. HOWEVER, warning to all: the sprayer part does not impart a super fine mist so you must clean the nozzle often and make sure you spray from a distance, or else you may wind up damaging your drawing by causing drips or too much wetness. Otherwise, a fine product — just be careful with it.

Non-toxic and perfect for studio use... this fixative spray can be used over and over while you are working on your pastel painting. (I use only soft pastels...never oil pastels.) Not an "end result spray fixative"... this is used while the work is in progress. No need to worry about ventilation in the studio... beyond what you'd normally be utilizing for pastel work. Sure beats running downstairs and out into the garage to use the standard fixatives between layers... over and over... leaving each one out there to dry for 10 or 15 minutes! Especially in the winter!! I'm too old for that!

Because it's not an aerosol spray ... and is more like a pump spray similar to your Lysol or "409" sprayers... it can scare you when you first use it. By that I mean, it can come out much more unevenly than an aerosol spray. And when you first see it hit your painting, you're afraid that it's gonna' dry "gloppy" or with circles of varying sizes showing! It won't!! Relax, it'll be fine. Give it time to dry thoroughly (doesn't need more than 2 or 3 minutes, unless you've been really heavy handed)... and you'll be pleased. It says on the label that you can use it over and over on the same painting... "indefinitely"... and that's true! Don't know how it works... but magically, you keep gaining more and more tooth... and can layer and layer and layer. Guess if it's the recipe that Degas used... that's why it's so darn good!

Product does the job...sadly the spray top immediately started jamming. No amount of cleaning helped. It was a defective top. I had to pour product into a new spray bottle with a fine-ish mister. Annoying.

This solves so many problems with paper art and photo restoration by hiding and sealing repairs. I do not recommend you spray it, instead, wet a cotton ball and dab it on, or dab with a soft brush. The spray nozzle will make drip spots that are a pain to remove. I plan to try it with an atomizing sprayer instead, but not on an actual project. It can get shiny with buffing, but does not sand away easily. It removes itself, on a smooth surface like a photograph you can spray it heavily and wipe it all away, but I don't recommend getting to that point. One other thing that is very cool about this fixative is that you can pour a little into a cup, then add powdered pastel and paint it as a chalky matte paint. It is too awesome in this respect. This fixative has helped me so much with my restoration projects. Love this stuff.

It's good

This is a matte fixative which allows the artist "to layer on additional

media". It is a milk-protein product, not an acrylic or varnish. Used it

to prep latex painted wall for large decals. Paint probably originally

advertised as washable. When trying to hang awkward semi-peeled

wall decals found that the blue painter's tape FELL OFF THE WALL.

Didn't seem auspicious for sticking peel&stick wall pictures.

……….So, how to change the wall's 'low surface energy'? Fixatives

seemed worth a try. They fix the weirdest things. All are toxic and

explosive, you don't want to spray them in the house, except one:

SPECTRA-FIX, non-toxic, odorless. Wiped wall with lightly detergent

dosed sponge, Dry rubbed with microcloth. Product produces a very

fine mist with a finger pump. Two light sprays. Gave it a day to set.

Probably didn't need more than an hour. Peel and stick decals happy

on wall. Blue painter's tape sticks better.. could have used a third coat,

I think. A newly painted washable wall could be more of a problem. Ebb

Works well on pastel ,

La mejor alternativa para evitar los aerosoles y fijar los trabajos al pastel. Afecta levemente los colores al igual que todos los fijadores en aerosol con la ventaja que no respirarás gases nocivos. El precio es elevado a comparación de un aerosol convencional o igual precio que un aerosol de marca muy reconocida pero creo que el hecho que puedas cuidar tu salud usando este fijador que no es tóxico justifica el precio.

A really great way to fix watercolor and pencil drawings and not toxic like other aerosol sprays.

It will fix your artwork but you pay the price of having the looks of your artworks altered. You will have a shiny layer of gloss over your artwork. I used this on my oil pastels and as you can imagine it's Oil pastel so the liquid will stay on top of the artwork it will never combine or be absorbed into the artwork. It will just sit on top till it can dry which will take forever. You may not notice as HUGE of a problem if your artwork is pencil on paper or a different type of medium but on OIL PASTEL you will have problems using this fixative.

The spray nozzle is SO SO bad that it leaves HUGE droplets of different sizes on your work. It literally is like a showerhead style spray. Since oil pastel has a slippery surface some droplets will gather together and form literal tiny puddles. You will have sections with puddles, sections with large or small uneven droplets and or sections with nothing. It's a total disaster. It will also take forever to dry and using hairdryer will dry it quicker but you risk blowing the droplets together into a puddle just total disaster. You also get droplet water marks on your artwork.

This spray is seriously a mission impossible. You will be spraying away 5% of the bottle trying to get the whole artwork covered. waiting forever trying to spray it a 2nd time 3rd time. It's terrible.

I have ruined 2 artwork trying to use this fixative and I conclude you cannot use it on oil pastel artwork. You have to buy a different bottle to put this solution in or it will never work. So be prepared to invest in a different/better spray bottle that can do ultra fine mist if you're going to use this product. Or it will totally fail you.

It's so far the best I got for dry medium.. loved it .