Digital BW, The Print

Here is what Robert Morrison had to say about all this
(I'm posting his email to me with his permission):

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I don't think there will be any difference for canvas between 
Bulldog, ClearJet and Lyson.  I believe Lyson is the only one
 that was tested for archival issues...it supposedly doubles
 the life expectancy of dye based prints, it has a UV absorber...
I doubt it will make much of any difference for pigment based
 prints because its not UV that kills them...just visible light.  
Using the water-based acrylic polymers I found some 
improvement for black pigments in a daylight fade test...
but it didn't matter whether the polymer have UV absorbers 
or not...its probably just the act of protecting the ink/pigments 
from air that resulted in the improvement.

None of the solvent based products will work on matte-based 
papers...don't waste your time.  Hydrocote is the best of the 
over-the-counter products for coating.  I made a custom mix 
of polymers that worked slightly better...but it required formulation 
that the average user without mixing equipment won't be 
able to do.  The difference was marginal.  The best way to 
coat the matte prints is with a #30 meyer rod which you can get from

http://www.rdspecialties.com/Page.asp?Script=4

Robert


----------------------------------
Robert Morrison
robert@...
www.studiotheia.com






--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Antonis" 
<antonisphoto@y...> wrote:
....

> 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.

.........


> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
> <paul.roark@v...> wrote:

.....

> > 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