Yeah I've used Acrylite P99 few times in the past. It's not very practical for me since most of what I'm selling now is in 6 to 8 foot wide range, which requires a fairly thick sheet to avoid the funhouse mirror effect. Factoring in waste and time, I'd be at around $200+ just for the plex at those sizes. That would have to add at least $800+ to the price of the piece for sales through a commission gallery. But even worse, the piece would weigh enough that it would almost need two people to move and require meticulous hanging. P99 does work pretty good, although it will not suppress reflections of very bright sources like overhead lights, windows, and doors. But it does knock down low grade reflections from opposite walls and in the balance the small amount of hazing it adds is sometimes a good tradeoff. I need to present bare prints with nothing but surrounding frames to keep both the price and weight within commercially viable ranges, and that makes some sort of applied coating my only real option. Shipping is another issue, really heavy pieces require much more expensive packaging than lighter weight ones.
Was a little disappointed at the canned version of Premier Print Shield on the Epson Cold Press Bright. It definitely killed a lot of the print beauty, and brought the deep, velvety blacks up a couple notches. The prints still look nice, but they no longer get the prize. And even with four coats they were still vulnerable to scuffing.
However, it was very interesting to see how Premier Print Shield upped the gloss on Silver Rag almost to the level of a mirror-finish RC print, with extremely good abrasion protection. It took very little spray. Tonality is definitely richer than the bare prints, although the overall density seems about the same except for more modulation in the darkest areas. It also unveiled the slight haze found on a lot of glossy media in the dark areas. And totally eliminated every type of bronzing. I mounted one of the Silver Rag prints and it's the closest thing I've seen to facemount contrast and depth. Of course the reflections are very bright, although confined to much smaller areas on the surface of the print, just like traditional glazed pieces and facemount. Have to think about this. Hate using the solvent sprays, though, I would have to spend some big money on my so-called spray booth to make it safe and tolerable in my residential location.
Edit: changed the phrase "Premiere Art Shield" to "Premier Print Shield" which is the correct name for the product.
