Sealer/Varnish for Epson Exhibition Canvas

[terryr]

Hello all,

New forum member and photo printer here.  I've had an Epson R1900 for years now but it has mostly just sat gathering dust along with a roll of Epson Exhibition Matte canvas.  I'm getting into doing my own prints now and after reading a bit it seems that a sealer is needed/recommended to protect the ink/canvas after the ink has dried.  Whatever I buy I will most likely be rolling on and I am trying to figure out a few things

a) should I use a matte or gloss varnish (the canvas itself is matte, does this even MATTEr)
b) which varnish works well with Epson Exhibition Matte canvas. I read some old posts (2011 or so) that stated when rolling certain varnish the ink was coming off
c) approximately how many 13x19 canvas prints does 1L/qt do?

Thanks in advance for your help

[faberryman]

Why do you think varnish is necessary?

[DougDolde]

Yes you absolutely need to varnish canvas both for protection and the finished look it gives.  I exclusively use Breathing Color's Timeless Matte varnish applied with a 6" foam roller. Very easy

[DougDolde]

Why do you think varnish is necessary?

Obviously you know nothing about canvas

[mearussi]

Ink doesn't penetrate as well into glossy/luster canvas as it does matte canvas, so yes the ink will lift if you roll on a coating on glossy canvas. There are several coatings available. I use the one from Premier Art called Eco Print Shield as it has proved the easiest one for me to work with. I have used the Timeless mentioned above but it dried too fast for me and so I was never able to get a streak free coating. Eco takes about 15 minutes to dry and three thin coats are recommended so it takes about one hour total time to coat one canvas.

A coating is necessary for all microporous inkjet coatings (either canvas or paper) as the tiny holes in the coating that lets the ink in remain open to air contaminates after it's been printed and so those holes need to be sealed to protect the ink pigments from pollutants like ozone and cigarette smoke. You can also use a spray-on solvent based varnish but it doesn't offer the scratch resistant protection that a water based coating offers.

[dgberg]

Why do you think varnish is necessary?

Coating is an absolute must and corners are still subject to ink rub offs.
We spray 2 pretty good coats of properly mixed Glamor II and I still consider them fragile.
Eco solvent printer and some inkjet gloss canvases do not require coating.