Digital BW, The Print

Paul,

thanks for your replies. I am trying to get away from spraying 
because of the obvious environmental and health factors.
Spray coating is still a decent quick-fix for small prints, but as I try to
go up to sizes in the order of 44" wide, I'd like something I can roll
or brush on.

We all went through a lot of craziness over this in years past
(anyone who cares can dig through the archives here) and no
easy solution was arrived at. Back then, Robert was working up
a formulation that could have been a viable commercial
product but gave up in the end because he couldn't compete
with pricing and Golden's formulae (if I remember well) were
close enough to his ideas. I'll see if I can get him to offer some
...memoirs here - or at least his conclusions.

The rods - as you say - don't scale up well and they take some
getting used to. Then there is the issue of textures, compatibility
with various media and inks, dust that can stick etc.

Currently, the contenders fall into 2 categories:
water based and solvent based.
Also, generally, canvas has different requirements
than paper.

At the top of the list, I seem to have:

http://www.clearstarcorp.com/clearshield.asp

http://www.bulldogproducts.com/coating/bulldogcoating.htm

http://www.goldenpaints.com/products/varnish/index.php

So the practical question is if any of this has worked for people
in real world use, when many prints are involved or larger sizes
have to be covered. We've all done wonderful tests in little letter size
sheets or even a bit larger. But how about a whole portfolio, or show?...


Antonis






--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Antonis,
> 
> Sorry, I missed the "NON" in non-spray coatings.
> 
> I abandoned the Hydrocote experiments about a year ago.  I'm not sure I'll
> go back to that route.  With the Mayer (wire-wound) rod I was not able to
> scale up well.  The overall procedure just was not that easy or consistent.
> I would also have liked some third party source for the archival
> characteristics of the material.  
> 
> On the other hand, I pulled a couple 8x10 samples out today to take to the
> workshop, and I must say the finish looks nice.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com