Canvas and Epson 3880

[martin archer-shee]

I have just purchased a 3880 and one of my aims is to try canvas. I have never printed canvas and am not familiar with all the brands etc. I would appreciate any guidance as to what might be a good start. I can make my own frames.

Help!!!

Thanks
Martin

PS am in eastcoast Canada

[hugowolf]

I have just purchased a 3880 and one of my aims is to try canvas. I have never printed canvas and am not familiar with all the brands etc. I would appreciate any guidance as to what might be a good start. I can make my own frames.

I never had great success printing canvas with the 3880. Some 3880s seem to handle it better than others. Apart from anyhting else, a 17 ich printer doesn leave you with much for a gallery wrap: 11 x 17 inches, or at best 12 x 18 inches.

Have a look at Eric Chan's site. He has advice for printing canvas with the 3800 and 3880: http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/faq.html#canvassupport

Brian A

[martin archer-shee]

thanks Brian

That is a goldmine of help and ideas.

Martin

[StuNY]

It is a great printer for Canvas! I print mostly canvas now with mine and make gallery wraps for what I hang on my walls. It took me a few weeks to get the hang of it but now prints are perfect each time with no loading issues. I will give you a few tips FWIW:

Get a good rotary cutter. They cut canvas easily and having a clean square edge is important for feeding. I got the Rotatrim pro 24" based on advice and couldn't be happier with it. You will want a good cutter anyway for making small regular prints anyway so a good investment.

Always feed from rear feed. Others will chime in with attaching headers etc to canvas first but I don't use anything. I just make sure to use all 10 fingers to apply even pressure as I feed it.

Turn off the "check paper alignment" (I think that is what it is called) in the menu on the printer. I just take a quick look under the cover once the canvas is fed before hitting print and make sure it is straight. Most of the time it is, occasionally it will be slightly skewed so I just refeed it. If you leave setting on it will drive you crazy and it will be difficult to satisfy the beast!

The canvas you use seems to impact how easy or hard it is to feed so best to start with what others are having success with. Some are softer and others more rigid. I settled on Hahnemuhle Monet Canvas after sampling a few and it definitely worked better than others I tried so that may be the reason I don't have to add headers etc. Eric Chan made a couple nice profiles for me of the canvas incorporating my sealing after printing.

The biggest gallery wraps I find I can make with nice deep 1.75 edges are 13x24. This is using the frames that don't require wrapping around the back. I just started making my own frames though and stapling the canvas on the back with 1.5 edges and have managed 13x24 but a little more tricky since you don't have much canvas to work with on the 13 side.

Good luck, you will be thrilled with your canvas prints!

[martin archer-shee]

thanks for the encouragement StuNY

As a matter of fact I picked up a Rotatrim 24 about 4 years ago on Ebay and it is worth its weight in gold. Can even shave a tinnny edge of white off a print. I am looking forward to trying the canvas routine.
Still waiting on ink, refill carts and some empties(I hope). Then the fun begins....

thanks
Martin

[martin archer-shee]

Hi all and StuNY in particular

Your comments re type of canvas etc are most useful.
Question. I recently got a sample collection of Fine Art  materials from Hahnemuhle. In looking up the canvases I see Monet and Daguerre. You favour Monet for your use. Is that because it appears( from the sample) to be off white and/or more canvas looking?
What attracted you ( other than it worked...).
What do you use to spray protect the finished work?


Thanks
Martin

[StuNY]

Hi all and StuNY in particular

Your comments re type of canvas etc are most useful.
Question. I recently got a sample collection of Fine Art  materials from Hahnemuhle. In looking up the canvases I see Monet and Daguerre. You favour Monet for your use. Is that because it appears( from the sample) to be off white and/or more canvas looking?
What attracted you ( other than it worked...).
What do you use to spray protect the finished work?

Thanks
Martin

Good question, and I honestly couldn't remember off the top of my head. So I went back to my test print box and took a trip down memory lane! I test printed the same sample pack as you, as well as about 30 more papers one day with a set of my images ganged up on a page. Nothing like a side by side comparison of the same image. And yet, no sample of Daguerre oddly enough. Then I remembered, I couldn't get the Daguerre canvas to feed! After about 10 attempts I gave up. Partly because I really didn't like the feel of the canvas, and I liked the Monet much more since it felt like a real canvas in my hand, and the colors were really beautiful.  I get a great balance of canvas texture but fine details in the print. Not sure if it makes a difference, but the 100% cotton of the Monet has stayed nice and tight on the wraps I have had on the wall for a few years now.
I coat all my canvas with Eco Print Shield- rolled on- and am very happy with this. I put two layers of gloss and finish with a layer of semi. No cracking when I gallery wrap my prints- as long as I remember not to do it below 60 degrees haha!

[Wenge]

Just thought I'd report my good experience with this issue.  I find the Canon 17x22 in canvas feeds well into my 3880 without the need for taping on a leading edge, which was required on other more costly and softer canvas sheets. Maybe I got a 'lucky' one.

I use the rear top feed (the feed behind the regular one), not through the front feed or the regular paper top feed.

It's also whiter than the Lumijet Masters canvas (if you can even find that now) and the canned canvas profile in the printer comes close enough for my uses. Have not tried it on the 1400 or 1800, since both of those have been unplugged since my first print from the 3880.

It's not a bad price at Adorama when bought by the box of 50. Hope this is useful.

http://www.adorama.com/ICAWRMC1722.html

Mark

[martin archer-shee]

Hi StuNY

I did not mean to mislead you, or anyone. I did not get a printable sample pack (yet anyway....) but rather a 4.25 x 2 inch stack of samples from Hahnemuhle. It is called a  Digital Fine Art Collection, Media Sampler. Actually very handy as one can compare the look and feel of a myriad of products. Mind you still not as good as being able to print, but does narrow the field. In the Sampler the Monet looks a bit off white and the Daguerre is a bright white. The weave on the back seems to be the same even though not the same materials ( cotton vs cotton& poly).
 Asample pack will be next if still available.

thanks to all for the comments

Martin

[StuNY]

Oh, well yes Martin you do really want to make some prints on sample packs then when you can. When I went through it - obsessively probably- I ganged 12 of my favorite images with a range of colors/details/subjects and added some color/grey scale squares on an 8.5 x 11 layout. I spent two days printing all of my paper/canvas sample sheets and wow it was so fascinating to see my actual work and the impact the various samples had on each image. I also quickly realized the value of well made profiles as there was some real inconsistency among manufacturers. I still use that box of samples for reference even after settling into 4 primary papers and one canvas. Was well worth the cost of the sample packs to be able to see the same image collection printed the same way across so many different papers. Highly recommend the approach, and wish I could remember/credit the post I read that recommended it!