Printing own canvas questions

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When I bought my Epson 7800, I was also given some canvas at the same time...But I never really considered printing my own canvas.

However, I was at my framers the other day and he was mounting a canvas on to a frame. I wondered if I could print and mount my own.... I looked online and watched several youtube videos on mounting the canvas but not on the printing of the canvas...

I print my own large prints and do a reasonable job, However...doing a canvas is totally alien to me.

Any tips or advice woud really be appreciated
 
It's not really any different than printing on a roll of photopaper.....I presume you already use different profiles for different media....just use a suitable profile that you are happy with when printing on canvas.

Neil.
 
much of the secrets are not on printing the canvas but...

.... coating the canvas with something to make it wipe cleanable
.... mounting the canvas onto the bars - evenly and well tensioned.
 
Firefire said:
It's not really any different than printing on a roll of photopaper.....I presume you already use different profiles for different media....just use a suitable profile that you are happy with when printing on canvas.

Neil.
Click to expand...

Thanks Neil...I think I'll just print a few out and see how we get on..

snappingsam said:
much of the secrets are not on printing the canvas but...

.... coating the canvas with something to make it wipe cleanable
.... mounting the canvas onto the bars - evenly and well tensioned.
Click to expand...

Hi Sam, Any recomendations on the coating or specific canvas types?
 
For coating a couple of friends use "frog juice" - not a windup!!!

Never printed on canvas myself - so not too sure... - I know that with an Epson you cannot use heat laminates - so it has to be a spray or liquid applied with brush/roller
 
I use a spray for any canvas I print - its a glossy one and makes the print stand out a lot better than without it.
 
We use a roller to laminate our canvas prints (the small sponge ones that you would use to paint raidiators), these are a lot cheaper from B&Q than from an art shop etc and do the same job.

It dries evenly and protects the surface, also depending on the finish of the laminate it can give a bit ore oomph to the image.

I'd suggest buying polyester canvas to start with to pratice with then when you are confident go for 100% cotton.
 
snapalot said:
I'd suggest buying polyester canvas to start with to practice with then when you are confident go for 100% cotton.
Click to expand...

I've yet to do my first canvas and I am just curious about the use of the polyester canvas to practice on. What is the actual difference in the usage of the two types i.e. cotton and polyester?

From your statement I gather the 100% cotton is the better one of the two, I just wondered why this is so?
 
cotton stretches easier apart from that I can't really see any real difference.
 
Thanks Poah for that. It's always nice to know why we use one thing over an other. Must give canvas a go, I will have a look at the various one's at Focus next month.
 
POAH said:
I use a spray for any canvas I print - its a glossy one and makes the print stand out a lot better than without it.
Click to expand...

Thats very interesting ...I'm going to have an experiment next week ..thanks for the info.

snapalot said:
We use a roller to laminate our canvas prints (the small sponge ones that you would use to paint raidiators), these are a lot cheaper from B&Q than from an art shop etc and do the same job.

It dries evenly and protects the surface, also depending on the finish of the laminate it can give a bit ore oomph to the image.

I'd suggest buying polyester canvas to start with to pratice with then when you are confident go for 100% cotton.
Click to expand...

Cheers Brian, What weight of canvas would you recommend and why ?
 
you don't want it too heavy as it makes it a pain to fold. thinner canvas gives nicer corners
 
I've been using glamour II to coat canvases, and recently a different brand (I forget who).
Glamour II was a good product, but some brands can leave bubbles or streaks.
It also costs a fortune to buy, and a lot of time faffing around.

For a while I've been thinking of going with the hahnemuhle Leonardo canvas, because it comes pre-coated so there's no need for varnishing.
the quality was ace from what I saw at Focus last year. It does cost a lot for the canvas material, so its not ideal for selling cheap canvases.
Ill give it a go this year and post some results, because I've never found much info about it.
 
Cheers Brian, What weight of canvas would you recommend and why ?
Click to expand...

Cotton is a better quality but as POAH said the polyester is much easier to fold on the corners but with practice the cotton folds well too.

As far as stretching is concerned the cotton stretches much tighter to the point that you could use it as a drum instead of a picture!
 
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Some people like to heat laminate their canvas prints - which is less messy and faster - but it requires a large press which will cost you a few thousand - and you can't use Epson prints - only Canon and HP

You don't have to coat the print - some of the low cost online companies don't...

There are also a number of stretching systems for low volume work - hannamule have a "gallery" system that looks good...(though quite a bit more expensive - but does a fantastic job)
 
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