Digital BW, The Print

We produce astronomy prints. As you can image, we have a lot of black 
space between stars, galaxies and planets. Usually we use Epson Photo 
Paper. However, recently, I've been experimenting the Epson Matte 
Paper Heavyweight on a 1290 using OEM Match inks, NMC CIS, with 1290 
Profiles from Ian Lyons.

I like the "velvet" deep blacks this combination gives. But...the 
black are subject to rub off and are very easily scratched. Not 
exactly "rub off", but touching the black surface leaves a smudge, 
visible at certain angles. The black doesn't exactly rub off, but the 
velvet texture gets burnished. Other colors may do this, but it 
really shows up in the black areas. Annoying. Also, I noted that the 
colors scratch easily.

For sprays, I tried:

Lacquer Mat Pearl
Lacquer Mat Diamond
Sureguard Lustre #921

to no avail. The blacks still smudge.

I like these blacks with this combo..but does anyone have any 
suggestions about sprays, or how other ideas how I can avoid this 
annoying problem.

James Turley

--
Sky Image Lab
Saratoga, CA
http://www.skyimagelab.com
mailto:jturley@...