By Kathyanne White
In creating all sorts of digital alternative surfaces, I love trying a precoat from inkAID that I haven’t used before. In February I taught a workshop in Kerrville Texas and we used some inkAID Translucent Gloss for the first time. Before the workshop I didn’t have enough time to work with it so I had no idea what would happen. The students ran some small samples against strips of other precoats, but we didn’t get to spend much time with any real comparisons When I returned to my studio I started to play with Translucent Gloss and enjoyed brilliant results.
About Translucent Gloss – description copied from the inkAID website
Translucent Gloss coating dries to a matte finish, yet provides a gloss print resulting in vivid life-like images with maximum luster. It affords a high color gamut for full color and grey scale spectrum. inkAID Translucent Gloss is a microporous coating which allows for fast ink drying without tracking (or “pizza wheel”) marks. It can be used on virtually any paper surface as well as canvas, fabric, film, plexiglas, metals and glass.
This description fully fits. Of course with the many different surfaces I print like silks and the like Translucent Gloss is a bit different then on non porous surfaces, but it still creates a wonderful print. This coating has different effects on various surfaces. For the sake of this discussion I have compared Tranluscent Gloss with a couple of surfaces and even a couple of other precoats from the inkAID line of products.
First I compared the translucent against both White Matte and Clear Matte from inkAID The translucent gloss gave a nice vibrant print and there was not much distinction between the 3 precoats used on a heavyweight canvas.
The 2 sets of fabric here are marked with the precoat on the fabric. The differences are very subtle. You may not be able to pick the correct precoat without looking at the backs of the canvas when they are in person. If anything the clear matte is a bit (very tiny bit) lighter than the other two coatings. You have to be pretty close to see any difference at all on the off white canvas here.
Next I used the translucent on watercolor paper and contrasted it with watercolor with no precoat at all. Big difference. The print on watercolor paper no precoat at all was grainy. Once the translucent was brushed on the surface the image printed turned out bright and with a bit of a sheen. Very nice.
Then I compared the translucent with clear matte on a recycle plastic surface. The translucent gave me one of the best prints I have created on the melted plastic. The color is beautiful and the surface sparkly and light. Since the recycled plastic may not be a truly stable surface there is no guarantee for the archival properties of the print, but it is beautiful. I coated the surface with a spray UV Archival varnish from Krylon’s Gallery series-1375 Gloss.
Translucent Gloss pre coat above-
Clear Matte above-
I have to say here that recycled plastic may not be the most stable surface for longevity. which has nothing to do with the precoat. It’s a new surface for me and I have no results over a month old. Sometimes using a Golden MSA Spray Varnish as a final coat is a good idea. I do spray them with Print Shield after the ink dries. Next I spray with MSA Spray Varnish.
The last thing I did was to use translucent on canvas that had glass bead texture attached to the surface using matte gel medium from Liquitex. When that was dry I used Translucent Gloss on the top surface. The result was beautiful and I would like to explore that some more. The detail shows the texture and a bit of a shine from the piece. The Translucent Gloss precoat makes the surface glossy, but not in a bad war and the colors are clear and bright.
Students in my workshop coming up at Dragonfly Gallery in Austin Texas in May and in Greenville New York at Hudson River Valley Workshops July 2012 will be creating and printing these surfaces during the workshops
Lots more to try with this amazing precoat. I am drawn to the way it even looks in the container it comes in. For sure it will be a staple in my studio. Seems like there are many surfaces the create incredible prints with inkAID’s Translucent Gloss.
