Digital BW, The Print

Hello. I know that for the best print longevity when using a dye based 
ink printer (in my case an HP 9800) it is advised to use HP's swellable 
paper. HP does not seem to have a true matte photo paper such as Epson 
Enhanced Matte paper. I have recently tried this paper and really like 
the look (B&W) with my printer. The question I have is, if I print on 
EEM or any non-swellable paper and use a protective spray on the 
prints, such as Preserve It, will this substantially increase the life 
of the print? Thank you for any responses.

Francis

Hello Francis,

Yes, but you need to use the sort of coating that is sort of liquid
lamination to substantially reduce fading. I have Aqua Jetcoat II,
Liquitex, and several Golden polymer coating in my repertoire. They
all protect the prints very well giving varying surface
characteristic. You can use a Premierart printshield as a final coating.

I have stopped using swellable polymer due to its very long curing
time. Now I print HP Vivera ink on matte then coat.

--nick

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "tim4peace2001"
<images4peace@...> wrote:

>
> Hello. I know that for the best print longevity when using a dye based 
> ink printer (in my case an HP 9800) ... if I print on EEM or any 
> non-swellable paper and use a protective spray on the prints, such as 
> Preserve It, will this substantially increase the life of the print? 
> Thank you for any responses.
> 
> Francis
>

I print BO on heavyweight matte paper and also on watercolour radiant 
white. Don't have any numbers, but as the black ink is pigment based, I 
believe it last quite a long time. Epson dye-based inks last about 26 
years on heavyweight matte, so the grey ink should at least last as long.
Once I made a test print a  on HWM and coated half of the print with 
Golden acrylic varnish after spraying the print with W&N artist's 
fixative. Then I placed the print outside to direct sunlight. The 
unvarnished part turned to magenta in 2 two days and the coated part 
lasted 2 weeks. Might have lasted longer, but then came the rainy season :-)

tim4peace2001 kirjoitti:

> Hello. I know that for the best print longevity when using a dye based 
> ink printer (in my case an HP 9800) it is advised to use HP's swellable 
> paper. HP does not seem to have a true matte photo paper such as Epson 
> Enhanced Matte paper. I have recently tried this paper and really like 
> the look (B&W) with my printer. The question I have is, if I print on 
> EEM or any non-swellable paper and use a protective spray on the 
> prints, such as Preserve It, will this substantially increase the life 
> of the print? Thank you for any responses.
>
> Francis
>
>
>
>
>

Hello Francis,

>The question I have is, if I print on EEM or any non-swellable paper 
>and use a protective spray on the prints, such as Preserve It, will 
>this substantially increase the life of the print? Thank you for any 
>responses.

I think the answer is yes, and may be qualified by the choice of
spray, but EEM is not the paper to use because it is not acid free. 
It actually yellows rather quickly.  Best to use an acid free paper,
and there are many good ones to choose from.  There is an article at
the link below called "The Great Paper Chase" which reviews about 26
different matte papers, with descriptions of their characteristics.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm