Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark"
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> Livick claims great things from Clearstar
> (http://www.clearstarcorp.com/coatings.asp), and he and some others also
> like Sennelier's 
> (see http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-supply/catalogs/0047696000000)
> 
> Have you ever tried any of these products?

I haven't. In fact I've done very little with sprays or coatings of
any kind. I'd really like to stay away from it if possible since it
requires a whole different sort of setup here. Spray booths, masks,
ventilation concerns, etc..
I wanted to get away from this sort of thing, as chemicals in the
darkroom were no fun either, even dumping them down the drain bothered me.

I can avoid flaking with careful brushing and handling, even
occassional spotting. But if a print has large areas of smooth dark
tones, Prag and German Etching show the brush strokes easily. William
Turner has enough tooth to hide brush strokes. I even tried wiping
Prag pretty hard with a smooth cloth, but you take away the coating,
lower dmax considerably and probably unevenly. I've gotten to the
point where I'm very reluctant to accept print jobs with those kinds
of images on Prag.
Print Guard was the only other one I tried, and reduced dmax was
dissapointing particulaly since the kinds of images that will flake
and show brush strokes are also the ones needing good dmax.
Sometimes I think those kinds of images should just be done in the
darkroom, they look great that way anyway.

snip...
...I think this light
> source overstates the usefulness of UV absorbers for those of us doing
> indoor display.  (Unfiltered sunlight has high intensity, short
wavelength
> UV, the worst of which glass windows largely absorb).

UV seems less of a concern to me too. Framing under glass or plexi
will block some of it, and anyone hanging a framed piece of any kind
of art in direct sun deserves what they get.
Beyond that it's storage, which generally will be out of the light
anyway. The only prints I've seen having significant failure, were a
few with the old Piezo ink that were left for many months unprotected
face up to the bright daylight. Other, older prints with the same ink
well taken care of are still fine, and they are very old in digital years.
Also, Concorde Rag failed miserably, even in the dark. The prints look
etched, never seen that elsewhere.

> I worry, among other things, that my accelerated fade testing may
not pick
> up long term yellowing, which has been a serious problem with coatings
> historically used.  As such, acrylics and materials going through some
> accelerated ageing that goes further than I go are rather persuasive
to me.

Some of this we'll only know in the real world future, like newer
revelations about traditional silver.
Tyler