Digital BW, The Print

<paul.roark@v...> wrote:

 
> Yes, I would like to know the details.  I've started experimenting 
with the
> Epson Archival pigments, including Luster paper... 

OK, here goes: 
I went out and got a 24 inch X 36 inch cork bulletin board at the 
local discount warehouse --"Costco" out here-- for about 10 bucks. 
This is laid flat on my work table and is used to pin the print down 
when spraying. I pin the photo down using "T" pins available at hobby 
shops. I pin down all four corners but really its not necessary 
because RC paper doesn't curl up when wet. I dust off the print 
gently with a drafter's brush just before spraying with ImageShield. 
Lumijet ImageShield comes in a 14 oz. spraycan that I got at the 
local camera store. The nice thing about ImageShield is that its not 
a "critical" coating. That is, its a pretty foolproof and forgiving 
media. When sprayed on EEM, for example, you can hardly tell its been 
coated. Its primary purpose is to seal the surface of an inkjet 
print. The key to using ImageShield is LIGHT coats, very light coats. 
Follow the directions on the can and at first spray less than you 
think is necessary. I use two coats, the first coat sprayed in an up 
and down direction and the second coat in a left to right direction. 
This stuff drys really fast and I only wait a few minutes between 
coats. Pigment ink lays on top of the surface of the paper and if you 
have a segment of your print with high contrast between black and 
white the pigment actually acts as a microscopic raised dam and a 
thick coating will pile up against the dam and create a ridge line. 
This is why you use light coats. As I mentioned in my original post, 
this easy step just got rid of about 90 percent of surface sheen 
irregularities and you could stop here if you're not too picky. BTW, 
ImageShield is "stinky" (Dimethyl Ether and Butyl Acetate along with 
isopropyl alchohol) and you need a ventilated room and/or a 
respirator, fortunately you don't need to spray much of it. Sometimes 
I just hold the print in my hand and go out and spray it in the 
garage, its that easy.

Now for you perfectionists the next step is to airbrush on some 
Hydrocote. Here's how I do it after the ImageShield has dried about 
an hour: I use a one quarter inch diameter corrosion free aluminum 
rod I had laying around the house to stir the Hydrocote. I use metal 
because its easy to wipe off and I don't have to worry about slivers 
of wood getting in the Hydrocote. Satin finish has some pretty tough 
solids laying on the bottom of the container that need to be gently 
stirred into solution. I don't use a coating rod because I don't need 
a really thick coating. Instead I use an airbrush. I suppose which 
airbrush you use is up to you because after all, you're not going for 
a hairline pattern here but instead you're going for wide strokes. 
Personally I use an internal mix double action Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS 
bottom feed airbrush for this. Iwata airbrushes are all I use 
anymore, once you use one you'll never go back, but again, I think 
even a "cheapy" will work fine for this application. The Eclipse can 
spray a pattern up to two inches wide. Iwata also makes a W100 
airbrush/spraygun that can spray a pattern up to 4 inches wide but 
its very expensive. The nice thing about an airbrush is that you can 
keep the print horizontal and spray straight down on it using 
relatively low air pressure, this prevents runs. I draw the Hydrocote 
out of its container using a syringe keeping the jar open for as 
short a time as possible to prevent dust contamination (I got this 
idea from one of your posts, thank you). Then I fill a 1 OZ. airbrush 
jar half way full of Hydrocote Polyshield Satin. I add distilled 
water for thinning until the jar is about five-eighths full and then 
add 10 drops of Hydrocote Fish-Eye/Flow Ayd and gently stir with a 
toothpick. Optionally I put a filter in the airbush pickup tube just 
to make absolutely sure no tiny solids will cause the airbrush 
to "spit". I also filter the air line from the compressor.

Now before I start spraying I take an empty 1 OZ. airbrush bottle and 
put a few drops of dishwashing liquid in it then fill with hot water. 
This will be used to clean the airbrush immediately after I'm done 
spraying. I also get a hair dryer and plug it in next to the work 
table (again, another great idea from you). Okay, now I'm just about 
ready to spray. I dial up the air pressure to 35 psi and before I 
attach the bottle to the airbrush I brush the print again gently with 
a drafter's brush then use the airbrush to blow off the surface and 
surrounding area. Then I attach the bottle to the airbrush and test 
the spray pattern on a piece of typing paper first. When all is well 
I spray at 35 psi and keep the airbrush moving left, right, up, down 
until I see the surface starting to get "wet", that is, the Hydrocote 
has filled the surface and is starting to "puddle". This won't take 
long because remember, the surface was already sealed with 
ImageShield. As soon as I see this I dial the air pressure down to 
about 20 psi and gently spray until the surface is completely wet to 
the point where if the print weren't horizontal the coating would 
obviously run. I then put aside the airbrush and immediately use the 
hair dryer to dry the surface until dust won't stick to it. Now I 
remove the bottle with Hydrocote in it from the airbrush and replace 
it with the detergent/water mix. I dial the air pressure up to 50 psi 
and run about half the bottle through the airbrush to clean it. I 
then take the syphon cap off the airbrush bottle with the Hydrocote 
in it and replace it with a conventional cap, then I take the syphon 
cap and syringe to the sink and run hot water through them for 
cleaning. Its important that you do this before the Hydrocote dries --
 it makes life much easier. That's it. I don't do anything with the 
cork surface for cleaning -- built up Hydrocote does no harm to the 
process. I gently unpin the print from the cork surface and hang it 
vertically for final drying.

The above sounds complicated but I can coat a print in minutes. The 
result is a print surface indistinguishable from a dye print. Its 
easy once you do it. Another advantage of the airbrush technique is 
it doesn't matter what size the print is. The process works the same 
on a 4 by 6 print as a 24 by 36 print. The down side is you need an 
airbrush and a compressor plus there's an airbrush learning curve. 
And of course dust is the evil enemy, but that's the case with all 
home coating processes.