Hahnemuhle Canvas Metallic: Any firsthand experience?

[Colorwave]

I've been hoping to read about someone's firsthand experience with Hahnemuhle's new metallic canvas ever since it was announced early this year, but so far all I've seen has been press releases and a brief trade show video that isn't very helpful.

Apparently the canvas is in stock and available now, but samples are still not.  Before I pull the trigger and order a full roll to see if I like it, I thought I'd see if anybody else has managed to get the material and can tell me more about it than I can read in a press release.

So far, I've only used IJ Technologies Black Diamond AGX metallic canvas (which I think it pretty similar but heavier than the Breathing Color metallic canvas).  I like certain properties about the AGX, but hate the fact that it suffers from severe concave curling at the edges.  Curling as it goes through the printer has resulted in several fatal head strikes and many near misses when the edge brushes against the carriage but it doesn't jam.  I also hate that the stuff still comes on old school unpadded 2" cores, and has severe lines in the last 4' or 5' that make unsaleable prints where the end of the roll embosses the canvas surface.  We won that battle years ago with most canvas products I use, but AGX still suffers from that syndrome.

If you have used, or even seen the new Hahnemuhle canvas, does it seem to lay flat?  

Is the description of it being a silver metallic accurate, or is it a pearlescent white like the rest?  Is it comparable in the metallic qualities to the AGX, meaning that it is less metallic than similar paper finishes, but mildly pearlescent when lightly coated.

Does it have any cracking problems at the corners when stretched?  Hahnemuhle's canvas is 350gsm, whereas the BC Silverada canvas is 380 and the AGX is 460.

What black do you find works best with it?  Some smudging before coating is acceptable to me, as I would never deliver an uncoated canvas to a client.

Thanks in advance for your insight.

[slackercruster]

I bought a roll but have not printed on it. Looks like a nice canvas with a slight metallic coating. Not as metallic as the metallic papers. It is not silver, it is white pearl type of canvas. I have not stretched it either.

[Colorwave]

Well, I guess it's not exactly a mainstream product yet, based on the lack of responses.  I suppose I will cross my fingers and order a roll.  Let me know if you decide to take yours for a test drive in the next couple of days, slackercruster.

[slackercruster]

I wont be doing anything with it for a while. I do not use canvas myself. I am printing a reference set for a few institutions. Canvas is way down on the print schedule after all the glossy, mattes and such.

It lies flat enough for printing. No curled corners. I cut some samples to letter size for the books. It is as flat a curled paper. Maybe 20% as curled as some of the very curled canvas I've seen. It is not limp, very sturdy and solid.

[I.T. Supplies]

This canvas won't crack when wrapping and you don't need to coat it either before wrapping.  It will curl some regardless of how you work with it, but you can straighten it out with a d-roller.  This is what our Hahnemuhle rep told us and they've tested it on basically any of the current printers available today as well as some old models to verify durability and printing ability.

[Geraldo Garcia]

Just performed a cracking test on a printed sample and it cracked a bit, but just a bit. I believe that may be possible to stretch it without cracking if you don´t have extremely sharp edges on the stretcher bars or if you don´t stretch it too tight.

Best regards.

[Colorwave]

A roll is headed my way, so I will have my own feedback to post here soon. I stretch on Fredrix Heavy Duty Stretcher Bars, so sharp corners will not be an issue.  Being in a climate with high humidity variability, stretching with minimal tension is not really an option for me.  I will be looking at how the coating/metallic properties interact.  More coating kills the metallic qualities, to some degree, with the AGX canvas, but I am not comfortable with gallery wraps that are exposed to the elements (including human ones), with ink on the surface and no protective layer of finish over the top.  We have vog here, and gas permeability is a significant issue with volcanic emissions.  I'd rather give up a little wow factor, for a print that looks good longer.

[Mike Guilbault]

Ron... any more feedback on the Canvas Metallic.

[Colorwave]

My apologies, Mike, et. al.  I got a roll and made some tests with it, and then was hijacked by more pressing deadline work and didn't follow up here.

Overall, I'm quite impressed with it.  In looking at a the gamut of the profile that I made for it, it's not anything to get excited about, but in real world eyeball tests I don't see it obviously lacking anywhere. 

The surface is quite nice, with a very pleasing texture, and the refractive quality of the pearlescent base puts it into a different realm than other canvases, so it's really hard to compare gamut visually, anyway. 

The most surprising thing about it for me is that the ink seems to dry immediately, vs. rather slowly like the IJ Technologies AGX metallic canvas.  It acts like some of the microporus coated RC type inkjet papers (which include the Mitsubishi made metallic inkjet papers, IMO), in that the ink locks into the surface of the substrate and has a very durable bond without any coating.  Hahnemuhle apparently recommends agains coating it, presumably because that kills some of the pearlescent qualities.  I was aghast at that idea at first, but a stretch test for cracking and a fingernail scratch test have me convinced that it would not be foolhardy to leave it uncoated (unlike, say, the BC gloss canvas).  The main argument for coating would be for ink permanence and atmospheric protection, but I'm leaning towards just trusting Hahnemuhle's reputation and their R & D department.  I'd love to see an independent test of print permanence on it, of course, but I'm not expecting to see anything anytime soon.

I print with an HP and Vivera ink and found a slight sheen differential from heavily to lightly coated areas.  In some cases, that might be an advantage, but for most cases I prefer the more uniform surface I got by using gloss enhancer when printing, which does not seem to kill the metallic properties.  I have no idea if Epson or Canon inks would look the same or not.  I printed with PK ink.

The canvas has a nice weight, and only a minimal propensity for curling (again, unlike the AGX metallic canvas).

Regarding the degree of "metallic" properties that one gets from a finished print, it's not blow your doors off strong, but neither are the other metallic canvases.  I would think that with the wrong image, you might need to tell someone that it was supposed to be metallic, in fact.  That said, with the right image, especially ones with high contrast and saturated but lighter value blues and yellows, it has a unique feel that does emulate the metal print look somewhat. 

I plan to do more experimenting as soon as I have the opportunity, and have committed enough to it that I've ordered a 44" wide roll for further testing.  I was not really promoting metallic canvas to speak of with the previous options that were available, but think that I can endorse this material enough that I will be suggesting it to clients soon.

Any other questions, or areas I haven't covered that I can shed light on for you?

[Mike Guilbault]

That was great information Ron... thanks!  I don't have the time for testing at the moment, but saw a small sample of it recently and was intrigued. I'm using and Epson 9900 so I'll be wanting to see results from it, of course.  As soon as I get a chance I'll order a small roll to try out.  I'm also curious about the Breathing Color Metallic Canvas.  I currently use their Lyve canvas and like it very much - but coating it is getting old.  I used to like the matte Timeless, but leaning more towards Satin for most work now... so maybe Metallic won't be too far of a stretch for certain images.

[wendykeeler]

I just purchased an Epson 9900 and some Hahnemuhle Metallic Canvas. I would be really interested in your outcomes with this paper and printer.
Which black? Photo Black or Matte Black?
Thanks!

[Colorwave]

I use an HP, so there may be differences, but I profiled it as gloss material and chose photo black.  It has sheen differential in the solid black areas that start out rather extreme, but largely go away as the ink cures.  Of course, I insist on coating it because I don't think it is durable enough without (even though Hahnemuhle seems to think it is unnecessary).  I have only run a couple of rolls of it so far, but I like the surface, find the gamut pretty good, and am happy that it has less edge curling when printing than the IJ Technologies metallic.  I coat with two fairly light coats of Premier Eco Print Shield gloss coating (and successfully used it with Sunset Gloss coating before their coating debacle).  The coating kills some of the metallic properties, but it still maintains a unique look.  My only real complaint is that it is swimming in OBAs that seem to fade very quickly in ambient light without coating.  UV protection is another reason I coat it, and try to seal the surface to some degree.

[wendykeeler]

thanks! Being new at the print 'game' I just learned a lot about OBAs.... something I was not familiar with. On my way to find some paper samples and get printing!

[Ernst Dinkla]

Just for information:  FujiFilm / Fuji Hunt mentions a metallic canvas in the catalog too, noticed that today.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

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