Digital BW, The Print

Ok, I did the coatings test on Silver Rag similiar to what I did on 
Innova F type that I reported earlier.  The best looking section of 
the Silver Rag print was coated with Premier Print Shield with no 
wax!  THe second best looking to my eye was the plain print with no 
coating - it did have evidence of gloss differential but did have 
luminous shadow detail.  The Premier Print Shield only section had 
zero gloss differential and slightly more "richness" 
and "luminosity" to the shadow detail.  There didn't seem to be much 
difference in the highlights. The third best looking was the wax on 
top of Print Shield - the fourth was the waxed only print with no 
spray.  Again the ClearJet Semigloss FA spray gave a veiled look to 
the print whether waxed on not.

Some caveats:
These were pretty subjective tests judged with only my eyes and a 
friend - we agreed on the results.  All were done on the same 
printer using the same K3 set of ink cartridges with the PK black. 
The differences between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places are very small, 
like barely noticable.  The same image was used for both tests, just 
printed on the different papers using the same printer setting for 
both.  The prints were evaluated on my desktop with a drafting light 
that had both a florescent and incadesent bulbs operating. Maybe 
using daylight would give different results.  I only had the 
ClearJet Semigloss FA spray - they make a lot of other types of 
sprays that may work better.  The semigloss kind of kills the 
richness of both of the papers tested.

What I learned:
For me, I will use Premier Print Shield spray with Silver Rag prints 
and will wax Innova F Type Gloss Ultra Smooth prints with Rennesance 
Wax.  I will use both papers, the innova has a white base whereas 
the silver rag has more of a cream color base.  Both papers give 
about the same tonal range with my printing scheme. Both make very 
lovely images. I think the gloss differential issue is overblown for 
framed work - you can't see it when framed behind museum glass.  It 
may be visable when looking at prints held in the hand - it takes a 
pretty acute viewing angle to see it on the uncoated section of the 
print.

This is what worked for me with my setup and my eyes for evaluation -
 I advise anyone interested to do their own testing to arrive at 
their own results.

Cheers,

TK

Yea, the Premier Art adds to the dmax of glossy media and does a good
job of smoothing the gloss difference issues. It does a specially good
job with Silver Rag. Just wear a charcoal fileterd mask if you want to
keep your brain cells.

john



A spray gave a veiled look to 

> the print whether waxed on not.
> 
> Some caveats:
> These were pretty subjective tests judged with only my eyes and a 
> friend - we agreed on the results.  All were done on the same 
> printer using the same K3 set of ink cartridges with the PK black. 
> The differences between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places are very small, 
> like barely noticable.  The same image was used for both tests, just 
> printed on the different papers using the same printer setting for 
> both.  The prints were evaluated on my desktop with a drafting light 
> that had both a florescent and incadesent bulbs operating. Maybe 
> using daylight would give different results.  I only had the 
> ClearJet Semigloss FA spray - they make a lot of other types of 
> sprays that may work better.  The semigloss kind of kills the 
> richness of both of the papers tested.
> 
> What I learned:
> For me, I will use Premier Print Shield spray with Silver Rag prints 
> and will wax Innova F Type Gloss Ultra Smooth prints with Rennesance 
> Wax.  I will use both papers, the innova has a white base whereas 
> the silver rag has more of a cream color base.  Both papers give 
> about the same tonal range with my printing scheme. Both make very 
> lovely images. I think the gloss differential issue is overblown for 
> framed work - you can't see it when framed behind museum glass.  It 
> may be visable when looking at prints held in the hand - it takes a 
> pretty acute viewing angle to see it on the uncoated section of the 
> print.
> 
> This is what worked for me with my setup and my eyes for evaluation -
>  I advise anyone interested to do their own testing to arrive at 
> their own results.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> TK
>

> I did the coatings test on Silver Rag similar to what I did on
>Innova F type that I reported earlier. The best looking section of 
>the Silver Rag print was coated with Premier Print Shield with no 
>wax! The second best looking to my eye was the plain print with no 
>coating ...

One reason I'm tentatively enthused by the paper is that it should allow me
to avoid sprays, etc.  With MIS inks I find almost no difference between the
sprayed and unsprayed Silver Rag.  The surface appears to be sufficiently
abrasion & fingerprint resistant that normal handling will not cause
problems.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com