Canvas Coating

[Bagel Framer]

Hi all,

A quick question if I may - a customer has a canvas they want stretching onto bars. Said canvas is a photo of something or other, but they also want me to quote them for coating it too.

I'm not sure what they mean by coating and it's not something I'm equipped to do myself - does anyone know of anyone in the Hampshire area who could quote me for the coating work?

Thanks,

Sean

[stcstc]

there are various ways of coating glicee canvases

the most popular are:

varnish - spraying or roller on - you could do the roller on with a decent sized bench and a bit of practice. picking the right roller will make all the difference. picking the right varnish helps too. its not that hard once ya get the hang of it, just a bit time consuming.

laminate coating - you need a glass vacum press and a decent laminate (think hotpress products!!). i do this quite regularly.


having the kit to do it i guess is only part of it, there is some skill involved.

[prospero]

To my mind, this is something the photographer or printer should do. There are too may things that could go pear-shaped if you don't know if the print itself is sound. I would never do it. If you do undertake it, make sure you make it crystal clear to the customer that you will take no responsibilty for any adverse results.

btw. A photographer mate of mine swears by Frog Juice.

[stcstc]

frog juice isnt bad, but there are much more subtle quality coatings, lion sell some of them like glamour for example

Although i kinda agree with prospero too, not sure i would attempt to coat something i have not printed

[Jonny2morsos]

I would refer them back to the supplier of the photo if you are talking spraying with any substance such as Giclee varnish, Frog Juice or the like.

Otherwise I would happily overlaminate in my Hotpress if the item is replaceable i.e. it can be reprinted, subject to the usual disclaimer which I ask them to sign.

Beware some printing on canvas is complete c**p. I had one in last Xmas which was in B/W and the ink was falling off it and it cracked when we tried putting on stretchers. Turned out it had been printed by a mate at work. Ended up mounting it and framing behind glass.

[stcstc]

yep there is some shocking canvas out there

and a lot of it from reputable printers.

i have spent a good while trying various canvases to find ones that i like

the hotpress matt heatseal is great aswell, and when a canvas is sealed you can pull the sh**e out of it too without it cracking etc

[prospero]

Going off track slightly..... Some printers seem very reluctant to do "the whole job" and will not apply a protective coating or, if on canvas, stretch the thing. I suspect that they adopt this policy because the printing is a bit iffy and they simply pass the grief to the framer. NMP
An artist customer of mine had a lot of bovver getting a decent canvas print of one of his paintings. He brought one example to show me. It was stretched and coated, but it was waaaay off colour and what's worse, had very pronounced 'banding' across it. How any firm who call themselves printers could have deemed it as satisfactory quality fair boggles the mind.

[CanvasChris]

I am more than happy to do a complete job.... actually it is my job..LOL!!! Also do artist reproductions and have had no problem at all with colour matching as I profile everything myself!! camera, scanner, monitor, printer and media.

There definitely are some shocking canvas printers out there... especially on ebay. You see their feedback and I just can't believe what people will put up with to give good feedback. I cannot get even close to cost price to what they sell them for AND with free post.

[IslandViewJake]

What's wrong with offering that service and making a profit from it? I do quite a bit of it for customers. 'Eco Print Shield' is an aqueous based waterproof coating. Brush or roll it on. Pretty easy to use. Just follow the simple instructions on the bottle.

[Nigel Nobody]

IMO the responsibility of coating printed canvas is the job of the printer of the canvas. If a customer asked me to do that, I would refer them back to the printer - no exceptions!
I don't want to run the risk of having to pay for another canvas.

[Bagel Framer]

Thanks all - my sentiments exactly. Disclaimer on this job and an approach back to the photographer/printer is the way to go.

Sean

[JamesC]

I have a lot of experience in coating canvases and can highly recommend glamour by breathing color - available from Paper and Canvas Ltd along with good deals on fine art papers. It deepens blacks and helps contrast and doesn't interfere with detail. Great if you are an art photographer looking for the best possible reproduction. It's non yellowing/archival.

It can take a bit of practice though and I found a hvlp gun was much better than roller - if you are a perfectionist like we are. It can be hard to avoid streakiness on large prints with a roller sometimes.

If you are just going to do one a can of lyson printguard is a pretty good bet and maybe a shade cheaper than frog juice - it doesn't go far though. It's handy to have a can in - being solvent based it dries much quicker than glamour so handy if you are in a rush. I think the chances of damaging a print with it are very small and you don't want to lose the job. If you have a hotpress sealing it with a matt laminate is great - but make sure you get it on right first time and pressed down before it goes in or it could wrinkle. Matt laminates especially could reduce the contrast/saturation of the print slightly though - this can be a nice effect and I think photos can often be printed too stark these days but the customer should be forewarned. It will make the canvas really robust and wipe clean (to a greater extent than varnish). We do 99% of ours with it now and it brings a lot of peace of mind to everyone.

I share the thoughts on lots of rubbish canvas printers out there getting away with murder and taking advantage of folk - I think some of those guys on ebay are kids who will just buy the cheapest possible clearance stock on ebay e.g. knackered printer, out of date inks and plastic canvas, and are happy if they make £1 for sweets or something. Either that or they are just so thick they have started a business without working out their costs. Only problem is when they run out of money they'll just sell the printer to some other numpty who'll do the same - who also slash prices when they start to struggle. It is possible to rise above that if you stick to good values and charge a fair but reasonable price - not everybody is stupid and once you get off ebay the percentage drops dramatically - worst customers you can get it's like selling at a car boot sale all wanting something for nothing and too many crooks selling dodgy gear.