Haze on glass

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Dodger

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Nov 4, 2000
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Melbourne Australia
We are in the process of framing a large number of A3+ size photos that have been printed by the photographer using an Epson 1290 colour printer in the last week or so.
After returning a day later to the first ten that were completed I noticed a haze on the glass.
My immediate thought was that it had not been cleaned properley.
It was duly pulled apart, recleaned and assembled.
On further inspection the other 9 were found to be exactly the same.
With the next one we pulled apart, we held the glass over a black matboard which highlighted the fact that the haze in only on the glass within the boundaries of the mat opening.
The haze I am referring to is in exactly the same wavy shapes that one sees during the glass cleaning process, only that they usually disappear when the cleaning fluid evaporates and the glass is polished.
The haze has reappeared overnight on the first on that we have redone.
Your thoughts and remedies are welcomed

Dodger
 
Are you sure it isn't just Non-Glare?

Sorry, just had to throw that one in.

I have the same problem on my bathroom mirror in one of the corners. After cleaning it with Windex, I notice the one corner a haze starts to form, and no matter what I do, it just never goes away.
 
Dodger, the photos are not stable and are off-gassing.. Lay them out for a few days and see if that gets them "cured".

I get the same gas from my inkjet HP.
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but if I just throw it on the dest for a few days, no worries.
 
Thanks Baer,
That sounds like a strong possibility.
Although they have been printed for a week or so, they have been stacked on top of each other with a layer of tissue paper in between and boxed.
I will now try and find a big desk to do as you suggest as the are 70 of them.
Do you think it would still work if I used benches??
 
Baer's hit the hail on the head. They are still outgassing. With my Epson, the recommendation is to place a sheet of plain paper between each print (and it's ok to stack them). After 24 hours, remove the sheet (it will likely be wavy with from the outgassing.) Replace with a fresh sheet. If this next sheet isn't wavy, you're done. I would definitely keep them out of the box.
 
Outgassing is a problem associated with resin coated (RC) papers (gloss, satin, etc.) Quite simply, RC papers do not allow the ink to sink into the paper below, instead it sits on top of the paper. Most inkjet inks contain glycol which dries very, very slowly. When it dries (evaporates) the glycol will haze the glass.

The suggestions listed above can work, but in addition to these, some people have found forcing the print to dry faster with a blow dryer works well. To be absolutely sure of eliminating outgassing however, the only tried and true method is to laminate the prints.


HTH
 
Because whatever you have to do to eliminate the outgassing must be repeated 70 times for this order, it sounds like there will be a lot of time and effort involved. I would explain this to the client, and make sure you are properly compensated for your time and efforts.

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Rick

P.S. Your initial description of the problem struck me as being the framing equivalent of trying to blow out those trick birthday candles. :rolleyes:
 
I have had this same problem with a artist that I work with. We have been dealing with this for a year and a half. He uses a Epson printer but I don't know what model it is. He does art fairs with his prints and pieces I have framed. After each show he will bring back 1 to 15 pieces that have a haze on the inside of the glass. The warmer the show (or more sun) the more pieces I get to clean.
He has contacted Epson and they do know of the problem, even though they will deny the problem as long as possible. The thing that seems to help (not solve) is to place the prints in the sun, with a piece of glass 1/2" above the print. Just baking the print without the glass doesn't seem to work as well because the glycol's seem to need something to adhere to. When the glass hazes (about a half hour), flip the glass, and keep doing this until it stops hazing the glass. The prints with paper between each was taking too long and still hazes the glass.
Steve
 
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