From:  mwesley250@earthlink.net Date:  Thu Aug 16, 2001  4:58 pm Subject:  Varnishing Prints, Part 4 Varnishing Piezo (or other) Prints, Part 4 This is part four of my running account of varnishing Piezo prints. Once again please keep up with what Mark Romine and now David Gross are posting on the Piezo list on this subject and the various thread from the original posts. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/piezography3000 (Note that these materials and techniques may be workable on all types of prints so long as any inks that are water soluble or fragile will need to be pre-sprayed with one of the various protective aerosols on the market such as Krylon.) I used the same two varnish systems as I did in Part 3: 1. Varathane As a sealer: Varathane Diamond Wood Finish – Outdoor Gloss Spray As a varnish 2 parts Varathane Diamond Wood Finish – Outdoor Semi-Gloss, Gloss or Satin 1 part water 2. Golden As a sealer "Morrison's Mix": 1 part Golden Acrylic Medium Gloss 1 part Golden GAC 700 1 part water As a varnish: 1 part dilute Golden Acrylic Flow Release (1 part Release to 4 parts water) 2 parts Golden Polymer Varnish UVLS Trial 12 This was done on 4 sheets of Schoellershammer Velvet 225: Sheet #1 Schoellershammer Velvet 225 1 brush coat Golden Sealer 3 brush coats Golden Varnish Sheet #2 Schoellershammer Velvet 225 2 brush coats Golden Sealer 3 brush coats Golden Varnish Sheet #3 Schoellershammer Velvet 225 2 brush coats Varathane Gloss 1 brush coat Varathane Satin Sheet #4 Schoellershammer Velvet 225 4 brush coats Varathane Semi-Gloss Observations: This was the most difficult paper to coat that I have tried so far. It is extremely absorbent with the first coat drying so quickly I was not able to get it on without streaks. Perhaps it could be done with a spray coat first and more practice. The Varathane went on with less streaking. Except for the streaks the result was similar to Museo and given the difficulty of the Schoellershammer and the relative ease of the Museo, I wouldn't bother with this paper if you plan to varnish your prints even though the texture is very good. Trial #13: 4 Sheets of Museo Sheet #1 Museo 2 spray coats Varathane Spray - Gloss 2 brush coats Golden Sealer 2 brush coats Golden Varnish Sheet #2 Museo 2 spray coats Varathane Spray - Gloss 2 brush coats Golden Sealer 3 brush coats Golden Varnish Sheet #3 Museo 2 spray coats Varathane Spray - Gloss 3 brush coats of Varathane Gloss Sheet #4 Museo 2 spray coats Varathane Spray - Gloss 2 brush coats of Varathane Gloss 1 brush coat of Varathane Satin Observations: This was a repeat from the last trial to double check results and compare Gloss and Satin Varathane. The results were very good again. There were fewer defects in the Varathane coatings than the Golden coatings. Varathane Satin is glossier than Varathane Gloss on these prints. Both are glossier than the Semi-gloss. Optimum for the Varathane would be 2 spray coats to fix the inks, 2 brush coats of Gloss and a final coat of Semi-Gloss. Trial #14 - 2 sheets of Somerset Enhanced Sheet #1 Somerset Enhanced 2 brush coats of Varathane Gloss 1 brush coat of Varathane Satin Sheet #2 Somerset Enhanced 2 brush coats of Golden sealer 2 brush coat of Golden Varnish Observations: Like the Hahnemule Turner and German Etching the Somerset Enhanced looks odd coated. The coating revealed a texture that looked like canvas. I did not find this appealing. If you want a canvas look you might try this but with a semi-gloss or matte final coat. The Golden coating was shinier than the Varathane. The coating went on well with no particular problems. Trial #15 – 4 sheets of Epson Archival Matte Sheet #1 – Epson Archival Matte 2 spray coats Varathane Spray - Gloss 2 brush coats of Golden sealer 3 brush coat of Golden varnish Sheet #2 – Epson Archival Matte 2 brush coats of Golden sealer 3 brush coat of Golden varnish Sheet #3 – Epson Archival Matte 2 spray coats Varathane Spray - Gloss 2 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss 2 brush coat of Varathane Satin Sheet #4 – Epson Archival Matte 2 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss 1 brush coat of Varathane Gloss 2 brush coat of Varathane Satin Observations: I used EAM in my first trial but wanted to give it another try since I felt I had gained some skill with this and I wanted to see if an initial spray coat would help. Much, much better than trial #1!! Probably still too glossy but I now feel that you can get a good coating on EAM. Because of the smoothness of the paper I do not think that you could ever get it to the point where it has no visible brush strokes but if done well should not be too obtrusive. The Museo has just enough more tooth than the EAM so that the brush marks don't show. Pre-spraying the paper did not seem to offer any advantage in the end result. General Observations: After this last round I have concluded that no two papers coat exactly the same way. Each one has it's own rate of absorption and has to be treated differently in what is applied first and how it is applied. There is not going to be a "one coating fits all" either in terms of application or artistic taste. The first coat remains the key. Flooding the paper and then gently brushing off the excess and then watching the paper dry. If it starts to dry too quickly and/or looks like it is drying too unevenly immediately re-flood the surface and brush out again. (If you wait too long and it has reached a point where it is tacky this will not work and may ruin the finish but an uneven first coat will make it a loss anyways.) Also as each coat dry look for dust or other debris. If you catch it soon enough you may be able to brush it out with a damp brush. What varnishing does for the prints in terms of Dmax and tonal range is amazing but the process is very frustrating. It is virtually impossible to do this without some small speck of dust, lump of varnish, fine hair, slight unevenness of finish or other small defect winding up on the surface of the print. You have to accept this as having a hand varnished look with the imperfections this implies. Museo with it's not too smooth, not too rough surface still appears to be the best for coating. The Dmax on a coated Museo print is much better than any uncoated print. Mark Romine's work seems to have ruled out airbrush applications unless someone else with some better airbrush equipment and experience wants to take it on. Larger automotive spray guns might be work. Silkscreen would certainly work. All of these would solve the brush stroke issue but not the dust and bits of debris problems and may have other drawbacks. My next trials will be on the new Legion Photo Matte and the Brightcube Eclipse papers. I also finally got my shipment of ClearSheild Semi-Gloss vinyl inkjet coating to try. Martin Wesley