Opinions Wanted Canvas Prints

[Creepshow]

Just wondering, what's the preferred protective coating for giclee canvas prints. i.e. varnish vs. lamination I laminate everything but I know that varnish would be a lot cheaper. Is there that significant a difference in the final product?

 

[more_so]

Yes, laminates on canvas always look hazy to my eye, especially when the light is coming from behind my head as when looking at a print opposite a light source like a window.

Coatings have less of this, possibly because they conform more to the irregular surface of the canvas whereas laminates are rather planar on top of the canvas.

And in general laminates look and feel sort of "plasticky" whereas coated canvas invokes the sorts of textures one sees on paintings, even when not deliberately textured. Scratches on laminates are more damaging than on coatings, and scratched coatings can be repaired at any time with one more coat or even a local brush application.

Coating is very easy with a decent HVLP gun and a reasonable place to do it. I tape up a bunch of canvases on a 48x96 foamcore and give it 3 coats about 20 minutes apart. Each coat takes about 5 minutes max.

Most canvases take water based coatings. The only real case for lamination over coating is for those few canvases that require solvent coatings, in which case lamination is a nice alternative to brain damage and vapor explosions.

You can also roll on coatings, but IMHO it's a mess and invites dust and just doesn't work out a lot of the time.

 

[Jerry Ervin]

http://www.breathingcolor.com/bc/catalog/index.php?cPath=600


Great stuff!

 

[Creepshow]

Thanks for the feedback;

If you've found that laminated prints have a hazy quality it's quite possible that they weren't pressed, or it least for not long enough. It's not enough to just run them through hot rollers since the rolls are flat and the canvas is not.

I always thought that even varnished prints have a tendency to crack at the edges, and could still chip and all that. Am I way off base here?

Also, no way am I ever gonna get into the mess of rolling on a coating by hand, not now, not ever.

 

[Jerry Ervin]

Yes the varnish will crack and yes the plastic laminates have a hazy look.

That is why you use the roll on water or solvent based products.

They are not that difficult once you learn how and look way better than the alternatives.

I did canvas transfers for years. Yet I was never fully satisfied with the look of the plastic laminate. A printed canvas with Glamor II is awesome.

Night and day difference.

One more added benefit, Glamor II from Breathing Color has Optical Brighteners. The product really intensifies the colors on the canvas.

 

[more_so]

Glamour II and the other coatings take about three days to a week to truly dry, even though you can handle them pretty roughly after just a couple hours.

If you plan to stretch the canvas try to do it somewhere in the 12 hours to 3 days window when it's still supple enough to not crack, but dry enough to handle. I usually coat canvases in the morning, then Miracle Muck them to Gatorfoam in the evening, ants never sleep.

Not sure that Glamour has brighteners. But any coating brings up the contrast and saturation a lot. All but the very brightest tones get darker, and the darkest tones bet quite a bit darker. Even though I understand the process it is always sort of a disappointing to see somewhat flat looking prints coming off the printer, and a delight to see them turn into real beauties under the spraygun. This unfortunately leads a lot of people to print too dark.