Printing on Canvas - Gallery Wrap

Has anyone tried printing on canvas to get the gallery wrap look like the one on this link (except in b&w):

http://www.mpix.com/Product.aspx/gallerywraps

Is it simply laying on the liquid emulsion on canvas and processing it normally through the chemicals or is there a better way? I guess a few test strips would be necessary before the final print since canvas is not cheap.

I would imaging the hardest part would be mounting it on the frame but I think I have enough wood working skills to pull it off. I really like this look so if anyone has any experience with this I would really like to hear your process.

Thanks in advance,
Ray

So far I have only tried Liquid Light on Art Watercolor Paper. I use 3 x 5 cards for test strips. According to Rockland's instructions (here: http://www.rockaloid.com/instruc1.html#LL) you can coat on fabrics that are just clean.
I hope you get some answers from some that have done this, as I'm interested too.
By the way, great photos on your fotomoondo site. Especially the Polaroids.

Hi Bruce, I guess I should bite the bullet and experiment with Liquid Light myself. I would like to hear experience on what to do (or avoid) before I try to make 16x20 prints.

BTW, I really like your lumen prints. I have to try that one of these days.

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm interested in trying a canvas print. Any input?

I'm going to continue to search the forum.

I have not done a wet print on canvas but, before the days of inkjet on canvas like material, they used to mount a print onto canvas to give it that canvas look. I have one from a very high end studio of our family and this is what I can assume from a close look at it. The lab printed it on color paper, peeled the paper so it was very thin (or printed on a thin paper) and then mounted it to the canvas so that the texture of the canvas shows through the print. Then they strung it on some canvas stretchers. It looks really nice, much nicer than the inkjet versions.

Hope it helps,

D.

Derek Lofgreen said:

I have not done a wet print on canvas but, before the days of inkjet on canvas like material, they used to mount a print onto canvas to give it that canvas look. I have one from a very high end studio of our family and this is what I can assume from a close look at it. The lab printed it on color paper, peeled the paper so it was very thin (or printed on a thin paper) and then mounted it to the canvas so that the texture of the canvas shows through the print. Then they strung it on some canvas stretchers. It looks really nice, much nicer than the inkjet versions.

Hope it helps,

D.

Click to expand...

You can strip the image layer from most RC papers by using a blade to separate a corner then carefully peeling back the top plastic layer across the shortest side of the print. Once you have about an inch or so peeled back across the width, wrap it around a dowel of suitable length and you can easily roll off the whole image. The dowel is used because it is very difficult to peel a whole print by pulling without tearing it. As you suggest these peeled prints were mounted under heat and pressure to canvas by most pro labs but I doubt that very many still offer the service. The last one I ever had done for a customer was about 2002.

They did have a different look to the modern incarnation but in many cases they were no more durable because most folk insisted on framing them without glass like an oil painting so as to emphasize the canvas texture. Photographers and/or labs often sprayed them with a clear lacquer to give them an element of protection and cleanability. This worked well for a few years but sadly with many examples the lacquer has yellowed and often crazed over the years.

I would be not be the only photographer who has been in the business long enough to wish they had never heard of or sold certain products - here are my top three: 1. canvases for the reasons just outlined 2. textured laminated wall enlargements because they also can craze and/or delaminate 3. wedding albums with vinyl covers because the plastic in some disintegrates into a sticky paint like substance. Naturally the companies which made these products either no longer exist or don't want to know. OzJohn

I don't know of any color papers currently available with a canvas base or texture. Canvas based materials are commonly used in ink jet printing with reasonable results, but that's an item for the hybrid forum.

I'm starting to assume that the only way to truly print on canvas would be to use the Liquid Light emulsion.

If you were to use something like Liquid light be sure to coat it with a protective coat. Canvas can be very fragile. I personally do inkjet prints on canvas almost weekly for my clients. I run a epson 7900 though...the results are beautiful for both digital capture and film that has been scanned.

i was friendly for a while with a photographer who regularly printed portraits on canvas with liquid light.
he painted the canvas with urethane and then with liquid light ..
the problem with urethane is it yellows ( they used to suggest subbing glass and plexi with urethane. )
without urethane, you will probably have to do a few coats of liquid light, so it really soaks in. you might also experiment
coating it with gelatin as a sub layer if the emulsion frills and lifts from the canvas, but i imagine, like heavy paper
if you put a few coats of the emulsion on, you won't have trouble ...
as for emulsion peels and canvasing ..
there is a company here in ri that i work with pretty often and they do emulsion transfers.
they suggest a small print at first, to test the paper, and then they do as ozjohn described, they peel the emulsion layer free from the paper
they then dry mount it onto canvas and put a uv protective laminate ( from what i remember ) on it and wrap it or stretch it.
they used to have one on their wall as a show piece they did 10-20 years ago .. no fading, no problems, it looked like it was done yesterday.
i have had a few things i wanted to have peeled and wrapped, but i haven't had the time or money to follow through ...
maybe with my latest series ..