Digital BW, The Print

Hi Scott;

Most people use Renaissance wax, I've been using a 
marine/aeronautical wax I found in a marine store 12-15 years ago 
(Ihave waxed prints that old with no sign of yellowing). It's called 
Collinite no 845, but has not worked well on inkjet prints of any 
flavor until the glop coat.

 -- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "scott_now_coming" 
<scott_now_coming@y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi Steve,
> 
> What wax are you using to wax a print?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Scott
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven 
> Karafyllakis" <steve@s...> wrote:
> > 
> > A further report and observations on overcoating with MIS gloss 
> > optimizer. Some bad news, I'm afraid, at least for those of us 
> using 
> > the MIS UC inks.
> >  After switching my K from the 'Universal' to MIS PK and gloss-
> > coating with the 1280, I started getting some very good dmax, 
far 
> > better than I've gotten with matte K on Photorag. The problems 
> > however, started a few hours after making the prints, when the 
> gloss 
> > coat really started to dry. The dark gray areas gradually lost 
> their 
> > gloss, and in some cases actually bronzed up again, and looked 
very 
> > flat. Not the results I'd gotten with the full color prints.
> > The glossy papers hardly suffered at all, but the semi-matte 
showed 
> > the effect heavily, especially with low-key but not black areas. 
> The 
> > problem seemd to involve only the dark grays, IOW the LK printed 
> > areas. I then did a full-page gray-scale, and coated 5 sections 
> with 
> > 5 different levels of glop, using the Epson driver sliders to 
> > control the lay-down. 
> > After dry-down, 2 things became obvious: 1) While the 100% K 
band 
> > retained the gloss, the bands from 95% to about 75% matted and 
> > bronzed again. 2) The heaviest glop coat retained the gloss most 
> > consistently. 20% may work if you're mixing it into the ink, but 
> > this way, you need more like 120% for a solid coat. 
> > 
> > A later test of the Epson Premium semi-gloss was more 
successful: a 
> > day later the surface felt dry, no visible dry-down effects, and 
a 
> > killer tonal range. So far with this ink combination, the Epson 
> > premium semi-gloss is the winner.
> > 
> > Other papers tested:
> > 
> > Epson PGPP
> > Epson Prem. semi-matte
> > Oriental Graphica luster
> > Proof-Line semimatte DP and Glossy DP
> > Kirkland Glossy (the Swiss-made) 
> > 
> > I'm hoping that this problem has to do with the MIS LK ink, so 
I've 
> > ordered a cart of the Epson to test; If the Epson ink is better, 
A 
> > much lighter coat might do the job.
> > This of course means switching and flushing the LK line, so I'd 
> like 
> > to put out a request to those list members running QTR on PC who 
> > have an idea how to do this, for a curve that will run the LK 
> > channel only, at full tilt. Or a description of what it needs to 
> > look like at any rate, or a link to that info if it is already 
> > available.
> > 
> > Some further observations-
> > 
> > Drying the prints before gloss-coating does not seem to be 
> > neccessary. The prints I've had least trouble with, I dried 
quickly 
> > with a few seconds of hair drier blast, and fed right through 
the 
> > gloss coat stage. 
> > 
> > If you use a desktop printer for the gloss, the pizza-wheels 
MUST 
> > go. Even at the slowest feed setting the glop coat is too soft 
to 
> > take the abuse. This causes problems with last half-inch of 
paper 
> if 
> > you're overcoating all the way out. Easy enough to allow for it 
> with 
> > a border.
> > 
> > Nozzle checks need to be done on an instant-dry glossy or semi-
> gloss 
> > paper, so you can see the reflection on the pattern, and so the 
> > other ink colors don't get on your rollers and then on your next 
> > print. I had been using the back of RC paper-the zero absorption 
> > makes the gloss coat easy to see, but cost me a couple of 
otherwise 
> > good prints.
> > 
> > I've had the glop cart in the 1280 for a couple days now, no 
> > clogging problems yet, only the occasional cleaning cycle 
needed, 
> so 
> > far so good. It hasn't been as trouble-free as running dyes, but 
> > easier than pigments.
> > 
> > The glop is easy to refill in the annoying 1280 carts. I've 
found I 
> > don't have to pull out the remaining ink/foam-I'm getting 10-
15ml 
> in 
> > the bottom with no BS. Wonderfull, considering these carts are 
> small 
> > and coating an entire piece of paper eats the stuff up in a 
hurry. 
> > Good thing it's cheap in bulk.
> > 
> > QTR is working very well for this. So far I've used only the EEM 
> > profiles for all the RC papers I've tested, and I have no 
problem 
> > fine-tuning any given pair without-split-toning, crossover or 
> > visible metamerism. I do have to use the 1440 super and 
> > unidirectional printing to get as smooth and micro-banding free 
a 
> > print as I like, but I would use that setting regardless.
> > What the heck, I think I'll go ahead and pay for it...
> > 
> > Print protection being an issue, I tried waxing a couple of the 
> > prints that dried properly-it works well, the wax goes on 
smoothly 
> > and easily, and buffs up nicely. No more skid-marks or 
> fingerprints, 
> > thank you. Very different from trying to wax a straight UC 
print. I 
> > don't know how much protection wax adds, but it's got to be good 
> for 
> > something more than just smudge resistance.
> > 
> > That's it so far;
> > I'd be interested in hearing from others trying this out, 
> > particularly anyone using straight Epson UC inks; any problems?
> > 
> > Steve Karafyllakis
> > 
> > http://www.stevekphoto.com