Digital BW, The Print

Tom,

>Do you think that the Premier Art Print Shield offers enough protection 
>to a print to display it without glass?  

It's all relative, of course.  I have been smudging with fingers and wiping
off, and taking a wet paper towel to the surface.  The sprayed prints do
fine with this type of abuse.

I think a hard mounting substrate would also help.  On the other hand,
acid-free foam core is readily available, and there are, apparently, dry
mounting tissues that can word at the low temperatures it requires.  So, I
will probably start with that.

>If so, how many coats of the stuff do you think are necessary? 

I was doing 5 passes for my tests.  In a real print where the adjacent
passes overlap, I'd guess 3 are going to do the trick.  Of course, the more
the better for protection, but my experience is that the dynamic range
starts to contract and unwanted yellow might appear.
 
>I recently completed a custom book project where I had prints on 
>PhotoRag sprayed with the Print Shield and found that it was 
>actually difficult to tell an unsprayed print 
>from a sprayed print, even with 3 coats. 

This is more so on matte than glossy/barrier papers. The glossy papers have
the bronzing and uneven reflectance from the pigments that is part of what
the spray is for -- it largely eliminates the issue.  With the semi-matte
and semi-gloss, the spray also changes the character of the paper surface
appearance.

> The sprayed print seems like it won't scuff 
>quite as easily as an unsprayed print and does have some protection 
>from moisture, but still seems like a fairly vulnerable surface.

I agree.  I recommend spraying for matte papers also if they are not going
to be under glass.  But, don't try to clean them with a wet paper towel!

> I would really like to sell these prints with 
>Print Shield spray and no glass but worry about their 
>vulnerability to physical damage.  

Yep, I agree.

At my level, I find buyers are just not asking about many questions at all.
EEM, cotton, ... it's all the same to them.  They are strictly buying the
image.  So, if the image has a higher dynamic range and visual impact, will
it be more appealing?  Or, whether they ask or not, does the traditional
matting and glazing convey a sense that this is a traditional, archival B&W?

>Unfortunately a tougher laminate protection gives too much of a plastic 
>look for my taste.  What are your thoughts/experience on this.  

I agree.  I've never seen a laminate that I liked.  The semi-gloss with a
spray is a very nice surface -- very close to the (dare I say) air-dried
fiber print.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com