Digital BW, The Print

Martin, you wrote:

> Thanks for the information. Do you think that it would be possible to use
a
> silk screen with acrylic painting varnishes? The Golden acrylic varnish
has
> remained nicely clean and colorless for 14 months now.
> >
> > Not everyone has a silkscreen shop. What would be nuch nicer is another
> > (older) inkjet printer that sprays the prints with a coating. Register
to
> > spray only the image printed must be possible. 4 heads all filled with
the
> > same liguid and a raw driver that will let them all work at the same
time.
>
> MIS has samples of such a coating available.
>
> http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/accessory.html
>
>       MIS-GLOSS-2
>
>
>       MIS Gloss Coat Sample - Gloss Coat is a clear odorless coating which
> can be applied to a glossy archival pigmented print to eliminate dull
spots
> and to seal the surface to make the print more durable. Requires a second
> printer to apply. Comes in a 2 oz sample bottle, virgin empty cartridge
not
> included.
>
> I think the question would be if enough coating could be applied this way
to
> provide maximum protection. I know you didn't like the way the paper was
> saturated with varnish when you silk-screened but I think this might give
> the maximum encapsulation of the pigment particles.

European suppliers are easier for me. There are a lot of varnishes available
not intended for silkscreen printing but usable in silkscreen printing. As
the layer shouldn't be too thick a fine fabric is needed. Thin varnishes if
not drying too fast will then be printable.
The setup for silkscreen printing doesn't make it economic for single prints
or more prints of different sizes.
If the quantity gets above 25 then it becomes a nice process.
There is a supplier of Aquaseal here but that goes per 5 gallon and is
pricey.. Aquaseal is used in dedicated protection coating machines for
inkjet.
What Robert suggests: applying with a rod is a nice possibility. Spraying
isn't bad either. A wax coater like they used in graphic design in the past
may be usable too. Maybe my old Copyproof machine gets a new life.
I've checked the First method on the web again. They call it ColorLock
nowaday. Still very nice. See for example:
http://www.enduragloss.com/Merchant/Media/media_first.htm

I still wonder why they didn't introduce that for paper. Ilford has/had
something in the pipeline but I can't find it anymore on their site. Could
be a patent issue. On Thursday I will be on the Fotokina and try to get an
answer there.

Ernst