Varnishing Innova matt papers

[henrikolsen]

Can anyone share experience of varnishing Innova matt fineart papers? I am currently looking at their IFA-06 and IFA-12, the Soft Textured Natural White in 190gsm and 315gsm. More so the lighter variant for book printing where I want a thinner paper I can varnish and page turn fairly easily. The varnish would be for protection and possible surface alteration (perhaps going satin or gloss on some).

Varnish could be BC Timeless or Glamour.

[mearussi]

I've experimented with varnishing quite a few glossy and matte papers with Timeless and with all glossy/satin papers the ink will lift and with all matte papers it won't. But ALL of the papers will warp badly and won't go back to their original shape once dried, so it's not something I can recommend. The only paper that it worked well with was the Canson (heavily textured) Aquarelle.

For what you're wanting a spray on varnish, such as Moab or Hahnemuhle, will be much safer and work just as well. 

[henrikolsen]

Thanks for the input. Just not a fan of the chemicals/odors from the sprays. Guess I can't alter the surface finish either with them, or? Like going from matt paper to satin or glossy surface, with higher gamut.

[mearussi]

Thanks for the input. Just not a fan of the chemicals/odors from the sprays. Guess I can't alter the surface finish either with them, or? Like going from matt paper to satin or glossy surface, with higher gamut.

Some come in glossy or satin finishes, but you can also just print on glossy paper if you want that kind of finish and then overspray.

But for a book why not just use a thin double sided luster paper in the first place?

[henrikolsen]

But for a book why not just use a thin double sided luster paper in the first place?

Because, to me, the typical RC offerings seem rather dull with their typical bluish whitepoint and lack of structure. All depends on the goal and preference of course. Have been eyeing some dual sided matt papers that I'll try to varnish or spray to get to a finish I like (neutral, not blue whitepoint, some texture).

[henrikolsen]

Got a chance myself to varnish some Innova matt papers now. Think it was IFA-12,13,14, with BC Glamour II Gloss. Didn't go well, see attachments. Will do more tests on BC's own matt papers soon. One with heavy ink coverage / black background smeared a lot of ink all over. Using media settings as recommended by Innova (here it's heavyweight fine art paper, standard ink usage).

Also tried Glamour II Gloss on the last BC Lyve target print I did. Gone better. The one on custom media base MBK (not MBK,PBK), that smeared somewhat already when dry. It actually didn't smear more when coated/varnished this time. Whether that was caused by the MBK-only base media and/or Glamour II (vs Timeless) is yet to be known. The varnish spreads out well, and the leveling agent in the Glamour II is nice to work with, I think. Rolling it on with high density foam rollers.

To be clear, the prints all had 15+ hours of drying/outgassing before varnishing. And images here are taken after varnish has dried up as much as it can.