A recent post of mine instigated a very interesting thread about OBAs. Since then, I've been looking into glossy canvas. I figured I'd post my experience and findings. Perhaps someone will find it helpful, and perhaps it will instigate a little more productive discussion.
I had previously tried Breathing Color Glossy Chromata Canvas. As I mentioned in these forums once, I had a problem with flaking (which was confirmed by others who had used this canvas). Breathing Color no longer even lists the product on their website, and I was told, in a previous thread, that it was being re-formulated and would re-appear. But it hasn't re-appeared, and I'm moving on.
Anyway, after the interesting thread about OBAs, I figured I'd investigate a little in regard to the glossy canvasses I was interested in. I had narrowed my interest down to IJ Technologies Black Diamond Gloss Canvas, Lexjet Sunset Select Gloss Canvas, BF Inkjet's TruPalette Grand Photographer Gloss Canvas, and the newest of the bunch, the Innova Photo Canvas Ultra Gloss. Here's what I found out regarding OBAs:
Innova Photo Canvas Ultra Gloss: I contacted Wayne Connelly at Innova's US division, and he replied immediately. He informed me that the Ultra Gloss hasn't been launched yet in the US, but he also immediately offered to send me samples, which was great. As for OBAs, there are some brighteners in the gesso layer, but none in the inkjet receptive layer. He claims a far greater stability vs OBA use in the top layer.
Lexjet Sunset Select Gloss Canvas: I talked to Dustin Flowers at Lexjet, he was quite responsive and, ultimately, very helpful. Unlike IJ Technologies and BF Inkjet that sell sample rolls, and unlike Innova, where I was immediately sent some samples, here I was told that LexJet didn't believe in sample rolls and that they would instead require me to buy a full roll, and then would refund my money if I wasn't satisfied. After telling them, however, that this didn't suit me since I was sampling various canvases and didn't care to buy a full roll to test a swatch or two, I was offered a bit of canvas that was around the office, Which later became a full 17" roll. So, great result after a bit of work.
As for OBAs, I was given a decent explanation of how OBA are only used in the gesso layer, and only to the extent that they are needed to make the whiteness level of the product consistent from batch to batch. I was also told that they achieved a 6 on the blue wool scale, despite the small amount of OBAs. I have to admit, though, that, at first, the product was described as OBA-free, and that I received the above explanation only when I specifically inquired about the gesso layer.
IJ Technologies Black Diamond Gloss Canvas: I talked with Keith Walker at IJ Technologies. He was quite helpful, and, when I inquired about their claim of no OBAs and asked specifically about the gesso layer and the inkjet-receptive layer, he informed me that the Black Diamond canvas has no OBAs in either layer. Good news for those seeking a totally OBA free-option, it seems.
BF Inkjet's TruPalette Grand Photographer Gloss Canvas: I have to admit, getting a response from this company isn't easy. This was, I believe, the third e-mail I sent them in a few months, and it was the only one of those three e-mails that I got a response to, a very brief sentence that said the coating on their product does contain OBAs. I received no more detail than that, and, given how long it took for me to get an answer, I'm, personally, not going to inquire further. (I also contacted them once about samples, got a brief reply saying they could supply samples for a fee, and then never received ordering information after I asked for it. So my not persuing this product doesn't reflect on the product itself, just my lack of wanting to bother any further with their customer support.)
So, evidently, OBAs are present in canvas products, at least to some degree, more than I anticipated. I'm not exactly sure why this is so. Jim Doyle, in my previous thread about OBAs, mentioned that paper mills are now experimenting with producing papers with white pigment in them. This would seem to be a more difficult process, since the pigment would have to be incorporated into the paper itself. But, with canvas, where there is a gesso layer between the canvas itself and the inkjet receptive coating, I don't see why anyone even bother to opt for the problems connected with OBAs. Since the main ingredients of gesso are titanium dioxide and filler (that is essentially plaster), I don't see where OBAs would really be needed to either obtain certain whiteness levels or maintain consistency between batches. Could it be used to allow a cheaper formulation with less titanium dioxide? (Considering the outrageous cost of inkjet canvas vs the cost of similar canvas without an inket receptive layer, I have no sympathy with this motive. If you're going to charge three, four, or five times the amount of money for a roll of poly/cotton or cotton canvas simply because it has an additional coating on it, I wouldn't expect frugality.) Or could it be due to the fact that these companies are simply applying their paper-producing methods to canvas, without considering that canvas is a different animal that has traditionally obtained high levels of whiteness with pigment based gessos with no OBAs? I'd be interested in speculation, information on this.
Anyway, the moral is that I, and others, obviously can't make assumptions about OBAs in inkjet canvas. Obviously, also, this does not suggest one way or the other how much OBA are present in certain products and how much the substrate's characteristics would change over time. Still, if my inquiries prove anything, it's that canvas is indeed a special animal, and that canvas described as OBA-free can still contain OBAs in the gesso layer. Certainly, this would seem to be less critical than large amount of brighteners in the inkjet receptive layer, but, to me, it's pertinent anyway, and I will from now on always inquire about both the gesso layer and injket layer in regard to canvas.
It'd be interesting to see blacklight photos (such as those done with papers in the other OBA thread) of canvases with no OBAs at all, those with OBAs only in the gesso, and those with OBAs in the inkjet receptive layer. Particularly, it'd be interesting to see the differing effects of OBAs in the gesso layer and OBAs in the top layer, to see if the gesso-layer OBAs really provide a minimal effect or not. (If, by the way, anyone would like to perform such a test, I will, as mentioned, be obtaining free samples of both the LexJet and Innova canvases, and will be purchasing a sample roll of the IJ Technologies canvas. I'd be happy to send someone a piece of all three if they'd like to do this and post the results here.)
Anyway, the above has just been some info and experiences, and not a heap of scientific test results... but, as this is an area that a number of people, like me, are exploring, I figured I'd offer this little bit in case it might help someone. I don't think I've seen a discussion of OBAs in canvas, so, if this opens up the topic for consideration a bit, that'd be great.
Kind Regards,
Mike
