Protecting paper prints in Glassless frames

[msoomro]

Hi Folks, I am planning to set up a small gallery of paper prints in my home office. I do not like the ordinary glass in frames (due to reflections primarily) and can not afford the museum quality reflection free glass.

Is there any Good spray or coating I can use on the paper and matt so it is protected from touch and somewhat environmentally sealed? Following are the papers I currently have

Ilford GALERIE Prestige Gold Fibre Silk
Hahnemuhle William Turner
LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Paper
Epson Cold and Hot press

[KeithR]

I would check out any framing store ( I use American Frame online) and look into their line of acrylic / plexi-glass as opposed to "glass" They offer many options including non-glare and UV.

[gchappel]

Like you, I do not like glass over most of my images.
I just let the prints be exposed, matted in the frame.  If I ever have to print another one due to damage I can, easily.  It is just an inkjet print.  A push of a button, and I have a new print- exactly the same. 
By the way, several have been hanging for 5yrs or more.  Still look fine.  I have not had one damaged or faded yet.
Gary

[Peter McLennan]

Like you, I do not like glass over most of my images.
I just let the prints be exposed, matted in the frame.  If I ever have to print another one due to damage I can, easily.  It is just an inkjet print.  A push of a button, and I have a new print- exactly the same. 
By the way, several have been hanging for 5yrs or more.  Still look fine.  I have not had one damaged or faded yet.
Gary

Precisely my experience, too.  I don't even matte them. I just print a wide border that looks like a matte and a black frame around the inner border.
Sunny room, kitchen vapours, direct sunlight, no visible effects.

[pluton]

Glass over prints is awful.
I once saw an exhibit of priceless Picasso paintings.  Unbelievably powerful artwork.  They weren't behind glass.  My prints aren't priceless, or powerful. At best they are interesting.
There is an argument that old silver-gelatin prints or prints made from other antique processes are fragile and need to be protected.  Maybe.

[Terry_Kennedy]

There is an argument that old silver-gelatin prints or prints made from other antique processes are fragile and need to be protected.  Maybe.

In my studio I have 2 Francis Frith albumen prints framed and under glass. At 150+ years old, they're a combination of fragile and valuable, and I feel I'm just their caretaker until someone else comes along and replaces me.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Hi Folks, I am planning to set up a small gallery of paper prints in my home office. I do not like the ordinary glass in frames (due to reflections primarily) and can not afford the museum quality reflection free glass.

Is there any Good spray or coating I can use on the paper and matt so it is protected from touch and somewhat environmentally sealed? Following are the papers I currently have

Ilford GALERIE Prestige Gold Fibre Silk
Hahnemuhle William Turner
LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Paper
Epson Cold and Hot press

In my studio I use prints on the matte Innova IFA24 210 gr/m² paper with a white or colored border laminated on 2mm polystyreen sheets that fit reusable frames with the glass removed. An inexpensive solution that holds quite well in time but the one above the sink got sprayed by water in an experiment. Have to replace it. At first I sprayed them with a protection varnish, the Hahnemuhle variety or Talens 680. I value my lungs more than my prints these days so the last print exchange on my walls went without that.

My customers get the advice to frame behind glass with archival methods. matte, mounted board,hinged acid free tape, etc if it is art that has to last long. As real artists this is important for them.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[mearussi]

Hi Folks, I am planning to set up a small gallery of paper prints in my home office. I do not like the ordinary glass in frames (due to reflections primarily) and can not afford the museum quality reflection free glass.

Is there any Good spray or coating I can use on the paper and matt so it is protected from touch and somewhat environmentally sealed? Following are the papers I currently have

Ilford GALERIE Prestige Gold Fibre Silk
Hahnemuhle William Turner
LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Paper
Epson Cold and Hot press

Any of the three major sprays (Moab, Hahnemuhle, Premier Art) will, with multiple layers, protect against fingerprints and some light water contact. I usually apply three light spray coatings. For greater protection apply a heavier water based coating like Breathing Color's Timeless or Premier Art's Eco Print Shield on top of the initial spray coating (you have to varnish spray coat the print first before applying any water based coating to keep the print from absorbing the water and warping).

[Paul Roark]

Any of the three major sprays (Moab, Hahnemuhle, Premier Art) will, with multiple layers, protect against fingerprints and some light water contact. I usually apply three light spray coatings. For greater protection apply a heavier water based coating like Breathing Color's Timeless or Premier Art's Eco Print Shield on top of the initial spray coating (you have to varnish spray coat the print first before applying any water based coating to keep the print from absorbing the water and warping).

+1 regarding the solvent based sprays.

I use 4 light Print Shield coats on satin paper.  So far, none has suffered any damage in display.  I dry mount the prints and do use a 1" white border and minimalist black wood frame.  Then when people grab the display print at the top (and they do, regardless of advice to use the back wire), they are not touching any of the image surface.  In a recent show (still up at the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang, CA), people noted the better look of the un-glazed, sprayed prints compared to the more traditional matted and glazed prints that were also on display.  While the decrease in accessible dynamic range of the print can be minimized by using coated Museum glass, that is expensive and not readily available to many sizes.  Also, particularly with my black and white, the museum glass has a purple reflection that is annoying.

My experiments with the water based coatings were not very successful for prints larger than 8x10".  Among other things, isn't one of the goals to lock up the water-absorbing parts of the inkjet coating?  If so, does applying a water-based coating make sense?   I would think making sure the print has dried thoroughly at least overnight, and then locking up that coating with an acrylic spray makes a lot more sense.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

[enduser]

One of our vehicles has acrylic covers over the headlamps. In Australia, strong sunlight makes polycarbonate headlamps yellow after a few years of outdoor exposure to UV. (Poly carbonate is used for most headlamps because of its non-cracking character.) An acrylic clear cover over them and after nine years there's no sign of yellowing.

[Paul Roark]

The fade testing done by Aardenburg Imaging (the best in my view) gives me confidence that Print Shield will not yellow in normal display.  At 140 MLux Hrs of exposure, the paper white of the PremierArt Fine Art smooth 205 paper (no OBA's), sprayed with Print Shield, did not yellow at all.  The Lab B (yellow-blue axis) showed a Lab b* of 2.8 starting measure and 2.3 after the 140 MLux Hr exposure.  That is, it bleached slightly; the yellow component of the color decreased with exposure.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

[Robcat]

I use ClearJet Fine Art Gloss on baryta papers (Canson Baryta Photographique, Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta). Usually a light coat and 1 or 2 heavier ones. Practice on test prints first. A lot. Surprisingly, the price per mL is the same for spray cans and larger ones you feed to your HVLP.  For matte papers, Print Shield is fine and doesn't add visible gloss. I haven't put anything behind glass/plexi for years. Like you I hate the look.