Digital BW, The Print

I'm interested in experimenting with inkjet printing on different 
materials - canvas, linen, metal, panel, plastic, etc. My Epson 2200 
has a manual feed slot that can accept thick media.  I know I can buy 
coated canvas for this, although I'd prefer to do so locally 
(Massachussets/NH) because it's expensive and I'd like to see what 
I'm getting first. But with the other material I think I'm on my own.

So my question is, what are the physical and chemical properties a 
surface has to have to accept inkjet (in this case, Epson 
Ultrachrome) ink?
---What is the actual role or purpose of the coating?
---How are matte and glossy coatings different, other than the 
obvious difference in their texture? (they must be different because 
the ink settings on the printer are different for them.)
---How are the vehicles or binding agents different for different 
colors? (I assume they're different because when I print on an 
uncoated surface I often have huge color shifts relative to a coated 
surface using the same driver settings)

Is there anything I can buy specifically for the purpose of coating 
something I want to print on? What if I use a latex primer or an 
acrylic gesso?

Thanks in advance for any opinions on this rather arcane topic, and 
if anyone has any suggestions for other sources of information on 
this I'd be grateful.

This doesn't answer your questions on surface prep, but it is an 
example of another paper alternative for inkjet printing:
http://www.imagingalternatives.com/
There is also a thread in the DPR printing forum that deals with 
printing on wood veneers.

There is a product called Bubble Jet Set 2000 that people use 
for printing on fabric. There may be other uses for it, too. 
I have not personally tried it, as this is not a current interest 
of mine.

Here's the relevant website: http://home.i1.net/~neckties/printing.htm

- David Bookbinder

= = = Original message = = =

I'm interested in experimenting with inkjet printing on different 

materials - canvas, linen, metal, panel, plastic, etc. My Epson 
2200 
has a manual feed slot that can accept thick media.  I know I 
can buy 
coated canvas for this, although I'd prefer to do so locally 

(Massachussets/NH) because it's expensive and I'd like to see 
what 
I'm getting first. But with the other material I think I'm on 
my own.

So my question is, what are the physical and chemical properties 
a 
surface has to have to accept inkjet (in this case, Epson 
Ultrachrome) ink?
---What is the actual role or purpose of the coating?
---How are matte and glossy coatings different, other than the 

obvious difference in their texture? (they must be different 
because 
the ink settings on the printer are different for them.)
---How are the vehicles or binding agents different for different 

colors? (I assume they're different because when I print on an 

uncoated surface I often have huge color shifts relative to a 
coated 
surface using the same driver settings)

Is there anything I can buy specifically for the purpose of coating 

something I want to print on? What if I use a latex primer or 
an 
acrylic gesso?

Thanks in advance for any opinions on this rather arcane topic, 
and 
if anyone has any suggestions for other sources of information 
on 
this I'd be grateful. 





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You also do not always have to prep the surface. I do some printing with an
Encad Croma 24 using Ilford archival dye inks straight onto Arches
watercolour paper. Colour saturation drops markedly, because the ink is
drawn down into the fibres. I am assuming this is because we are seeing the
ink through a layer of cellulose, so effectively white is being added to the
colour.

However for certain types of prints it works great. The other advantage of
uncoated is that you will get a higher dot gain, the ink will spread as it
soaks in. So these low res prints (the croma is 300dpi) don't show
individual dots, because they blend together.

As I said, not for all images but quite suitable for some.

Cheers,

Wayne

-- 
Wayne J. Cosshall
Director, International Digital Art Awards, www.internationaldigitalart.com
Director, Digital ImageMaker International, www.dimagemaker.com
Personal art website www.artinyourface.com
26 Kathleen Street
Preston East VIC 3072
Australia
wayne@...
Phone (03) 9470 3786
Fax (03) 9470 4384

Try a product called Ink Aid.

www.inkaid.com

You can use it to prep a large variety of surfaces--the people at Digital
Atelier have used it for a while and say good things.  I'm wanting to try it
myself.

Diana Jeon

I did two experimental prints on artist's linen coated with a single 
application of Liquitex Acrylic Gesso (for paintings I usually use 3 
coats) -one color and one black and white.

The inititial results are encouraging wrt to color accuracy, 
speading, density, etc, using the same settings I use for Epson 
Archival/Enhanced Matte.  If anything the B+W print looked better 
than the paper one for neutrality and metamerism, probably because 
the linen imparts a warmish tone to it which is not totally obsucred 
by the single coat of gesso, and that swamps the subtle color shifts 
that show up readily on the Epson paper.

Still, I don't know how archival this is or whether I'm damaging my 
print head doing this!   More to the point, while I appreciate the 
suggestions people have made about coating products, I still haven't 
heard anything about the physical and chemical properties of the inks 
and papers/coatings and how they interact.  I'm surprised about this 
considering it IS the medium we've chosen to work in!    Is there any 
forum where people are knowledgable about and discuss stuff like that?