Finishing an inkjet print

[gxhpainter2]

I thought I would pass along something I have been working on regarding finishing and framing of an inkjet print. I recently got an Epson 3880 and can't recommend it enough for those that would like to print their works. it will print upto a 17x22" paper borderless. and the greens and blues are fantastic. I use a fairly heavy paper( 300gsm) from Breathing Color (from their site "Pura Smooth is a 300gsm bright white, matte fine art paper with a luxuriously smooth surface ideal for high resolution photographic imagery. It is able to produce extremely crisp and accurate detail as a result of its leadership (when measured against other fine art papers on the market today" ) and wanted to finish and protect them.

So I first sprayed the finished print with Golden Glossy Archival Varnish, this "sealed" the original surface for the next process. I let this first coating dry for a day then I used Golden Polymer Varnish with UVLS (Satin) a 1/4 cup mixed with 1/4 cup of water. I pinned the print to a large piece of heavy cardboard and then brushed on the solution with a 3" wide watercolor brush ( the directions say not to use sponge brushes ).

The paper only buckled slightly with this wet coating but dried very flat with a beautiful soft sheen that really enhances the colors. The print is now perfectly safe against exposure to sunlight and fading. and I will be putting into a frame I ordered from Amazon that is for 17x22" prints. I will post a photo of the finished work.

Hope this is of some interest to you all.


http://www.breathingcolor.com/

[HwyStar]

Thanks for the info gxhPainter!

I will be looking into a printing solution in a few months and this helps me to start formulating a plan. The new Epson SC-P800 printer is coming out this month and I may consider getting that printer instead of the 3880.

The paper link is great - Thanks! I will have more questions for you later on in regards to papers to use, using Epson printers.

[hildee]

Sounds like a great result, gxhpainter! Is ink for the Epson very expensive though? That's the only drawback I reckon. Printers have gone down in price considerably, but the ink costs more than the printer, and it's an ongoing outlay.

[gxhpainter2]

Sounds like a great result, gxhpainter! Is ink for the Epson very expensive though? That's the only drawback I reckon. Printers have gone down in price considerably, but the ink costs more than the printer, and it's an ongoing outlay.

hildee, the inks are expensive but they last a very, very long time so the total cost is considerably cheaper than say buying inks for a consumer letter size ink jet. I have had them last nearly a year and printing nearly every other day at least one print. The print technology on the Epson 3880 and then newly released Epson SC-P800 is very miserly with the ink droplet size and dispersal so it makes it commercially viable even for a business to use them. I got my Epson 3880 for $858.00 USD with a $300.00 rebate which took about 5 weeks to get back in the mail so that makes it a remarkable deal.