Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles

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   Not particular to any individual mural, but essential to all of them, is information about what they were made with, how they were made, and how they are holding up. This is the section that is widest open to interpretation and questioning because most questions about the techniques of mural making incorporate multiple factors one of which--time--can never be fully accounted for except by the results of its passage. 
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Technical Information

Making your own Soluvar-type varnish for murals

Soluvar is the Liquitex paint company's trade name for a solvent-based acrylic varnish. This varnish is used by museums, art conservators, etc., to protect valuable paintings and artwork and is used by many artists (not just muralists) as a final picture varnish.

Soluvar: The Mural Varnish of the Future

Up until now, artists have employed a variety of varnish coatings to protect their work. For the most part, these are urethane-based coats that served as the best graffiti protection solution prior to the advent of wax-based sacrificial coats.

When the use of a permanent coating was the only way to protect a mural from graffiti damage, the laborious practice of its removal was unavoidable. Further, after a few cleanings a reapplication of the varnish is necessary. The sacrificial coating is washed off with hot water--paint and any other material on top of the coating surface coming off with it--and then reapplied, normally by a contractor.

The Problems with Urethane

Approximately ten years ago, it became the fashion to coat outdoor murals with a newly developed urethane emulsion coating that was touted to be a "cure" for graffiti. The main selling point of this coating was the fact that in was virtually indestructible, did not succumb to the usual hydrocarbons such as toluene, acetone, lacquer thinner, MEK etc. that are the usual solvent components of most marking pens and spray can paint.