Non-coated papers, primers (gesso) and varnishes

LongLensPhotography

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Just because I simply can't accept many things at face value I just had to get too deep into this trying to find a nicer non-standard paper and obviously save over Hahnemuhle digital rippoff costs. If I want simple I just load baryta in and am done.

So I am quite happy to report many of the uncoated watercolours (aquarelles) are perfectly fine for printing pigment ink for black and white, portraits and many pastel-coloured landscapes. There are some really nice papers and the tiny bit of bleeding actually helps some images, or where you just don't have amazing resolution. And they are pretty cheap. Also you can do mix media projects and basically overpaint some aquarelle for a fine art effect as desired.

Printer profiles for respective or similar "digital" papers seem to do a pretty good job. The likes of Canson Aquarelle / Montval / Torchon and a few others from Hahnemuhle and Winsor and Newman range have some nice qualities.

On the other hand they are absolutely no good for the more colourful images. They are just a little too faint or toned down - at least without varnish. So you need coating for those.

Option A. Canson, Hahnemuhle and others have several of their watercolors in digital form. They get stupid expensive though. These are their most expensive papers. The output is lovely, but I'd still say they require varnishing.

Plan B. The coatings appear to be little more than some mix of basically chalk or clay or TiO2 with some resin. That at least on paper seems to be exactly the same as Acrylic Gesso for acrylic painting. I wonder if anyone already tried and found a good match? I'd want to have a bit of jumpstart here.
The benefit would be primarily that you can use just about any of the very fancy papers not available in digital form or even other media - so uniqueness, single print runs, fine artiness BS, etc; and secondly the cost.
I remember in the last The Photography Show Illford demoed a fancy DIY coating applicator for those arty one-off prints on all sorts of strange things - all at absolutely ridiculous cost. I suspect there was nothing expensive in that bottle and that sort of formula would be ideal. You can sand it down for smooth surface, but personally I'd just leave some of that texture in.



Then varnishing. What works and what doesn't? Spray form I guess is preferred for simplicity of application.
I have the little cans from Ghiant on order so we will see what it does but I'm not expecting class leading results. What about acrylic media varnishes, or even car laquer sprays (for cheaper every day prints)? Then aqueous varnishes vs organic solvent based, keeping in mind some of the papers would be non-primed.
 
Thanks for your insight, i am looking to varnish my canvas prints so would be interested to hear what you think of Ghiant varnish, that's if it is even suitable for canvas.
 
Thanks for your insight, i am looking to varnish my canvas prints so would be interested to hear what you think of Ghiant varnish, that's if it is even suitable for canvas.

Will do. I am sure it is no different to any of the other coated papers, because it is mostly about the coating and ink compatibility. My worry is I may just barely get the first 36" one sprayed and it will be empty. If it does closer 10 I will be pretty happy. I guess it depends on the number of layers and speed of passes. Would 2 coats (left to right then top to bottom) be enough?

When it comes to non-coated aquarelles there is a lot more to potentially go wrong. I will see and report this back very soon.


P.S. Just did a colourful print test on Acrylic painting paper by Winsor from the Range. It has a very distinct fine canvas effect applied to it which may be seen as both negative and a positive. The colours look a fair bit stronger which is very encouraging. I just guessed a profile so I am sure it is not the limit. With varnish it may look pretty flashy. Not long to wait now for delivery. So that all probably means it is well worth buying acrylic papers or looking for the right Gesso if you can put up with the hassle and somewhat "unique" results.
 
The HP engineer who serviced my printer recommended a spray varnish to me he swore by, he said it was good for waterproofing other stuff like coats etc lol, but i forgot what it's called :(
 
So Ghiant sprays arrays have been delivered.

I've just tested the glossy one on Acrylic painting paper. It has certainly increased the contrast and made blacks darker so now the print resembles its counterpart on a dedicated baryta paper. They are obviously different, namely in texture, etc but I'd be happy to hang either one.

My useage so far was around 20g per 10x14" sheet/2 coatings.
 
Have you tested for light fastness? As I understand it, part of the function of the inkjet paper's coating is to resist the image fading.
 
I have a lot more to say about these sprays now.

20g per 10x14" sheet/2 coatings.

That was optimistic. It's at least double that amount. It needs something like 4 coats to acquire a defined even gloss surface. They need to be literally drowned in the spray. Undercoating results in very speckled finish. Another coat sorts the problem.

They have to be sprayed directly down. At first I tried it on hanging canvas (in the garden of course) and it did almost nothing except a lot of toxic fumes. I don't have much experience with any sort of sprays so it wasn't self explanatory to me.

Sprayed canvas has a strong solvent smell for some good 3-4 hours so prepare to keep them out for a little while.

Canvas: satin and glossy are more similar than different. Satin is perhaps more universal, and glossy is only for very contrasty and colourful images. Matt was surprisingly good and actually most images on a good quality canvas would be best using that. Matt gives a very small amount of shine (!) and enhances blacks a little bit.

Aquarelle papers: you can coat with glossy and it will look like a textured cheap glossy print with contrast enhanced a little but not quite there. Glossy is almost pointless here. Just use a good quality glossy paper and be done if that's what you want. These papers are great for all sorts of dreamy images where a little bit of colour mixing is a bonus and a matt varnish is pretty much undetectable on them. That would be my suggestion.

Acrylic painting paper: glossy coating managed to bring a colour image to the same level as a normal glossy / baryta print. A few coats are needed and you may as well just use a dedicated paper in the final equation. I don't like canvas texture on them. I'm sure different surfaces are available. At least its workable. Satin cover was completely pointless. Matt I guess is fine if you want to preserve original medium contrast look.

Glossy prints: I really don't see the point trying these things on there. They are likely to downgrade the look.

+ve points:
1. can be used on even a very small print without extensive prep and cleaning up
2. Quick and compact to use.
3. Reasonable end effect - best for canvas or matt protection cover
4. Good protection against scuffing and dirt and medium water fastness (canvas will still absorb some but with pigment ink it just dries out with no ill effect) - all tested to extreme by accident.

-ve
1. Toxic and smelly.
2. Environmental damage
3. Not very economical. Probably not any better than liquid ones.
4. Glossy coat may look slightly uneven or speckled if not completely "drowned"

So far the three different cans (1200ml combined) had done 4.5 x 16x24" canvas (gloss / satin), 1 x 24x36" canvas (matt), 3 x 10x14" + 1x A3 prints (gloss) and 6 x A3 prints (light matt). I'd estimate maybe 1/3 remaining.
I might just about finish what I was about to do but I may not have much choice in the end which to use.... P.S. you can overcoat satin with glossy if needed.

Have you tested for light fastness? As I understand it, part of the function of the inkjet paper's coating is to resist the image fading.

It says UV protection. Other than that I'm not sure how I would test that in an afternoon in a home setting.
 
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Conclusion so far:

* Varnish spray cans do reasonable job, but for bigger job I'll maybe try roller application next time to compare.
* Canvas may really benefit from protection
* Matt may still be the best option - or load glossy canvas to begin with (its no more expensive in the final equation)

* Top quality aquarelle papers are well worth it for images that benefit from it
* It doesn't make sense to force colourful images on them
* Gesso coating and acrylic papers will enable colourful / sharper prints but preferably they should stay matt - even coatings may be too optimistic or expensive at home / small office
* 300gsm is minimum. 400 is very nice. Winsor and Newman paper is highly recommended for those one-off watercolour style prints (also smooth regular board on reverse)
* It's all great for fine art work

* Expensive digital inkjet papers are worth it at the end of the day.
* This stuff is for business use and not for throwing around as daily junk
* Also: cheapest ebay chinese glossy papers are only good for initial proofing / printer cleaning and maybe an odd low contrast image (your intimate woodlands would be just perfect here)
 
I have to add that matt spray is more of a nuisance with plain matt prints. It is ever so slightly glossy and you can see uneven coat unless you drown it and then it becomes almost satin. Even worse, dust and bugs just love to land on it before its dry and you can say bye bye at that point.
That is far less of an issue with Canvas or textured papers, where slightly broken cover won't be noticed and dust can be picked with a fine needle if needed.

I will need to buy more of that thing to finish something but next will definitely try the liquid varnishes.

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On a different note I found a few gesso spray cans on a well known globalist web store. While it was obvious the liquid gesso would cover texture of papers and may be relatively uneven, etc, the spray coat may be lighter but hopefully just enough to make the printing better. These non-coated aquarelle papers are well worth it and I find some of my favourite prints were made on them.
 
Just a final note - FOTOSPEED varnish is considerably worse than ghiant but 2X more expensive. I barely covered one 24x16" canvas, ruined a bigger one (dust!!! and you can't clean them from that awful sticky mess), inhaled a lot of toxic fumes and it's almost empty. They are almost a complete waste of time and my patience unless you do very little and work in dust free environment. I will now discontinue my spray-on varnish "experiment".
 
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