Home › Forums › Explore Media › Watercolor › The Learning Zone › Printing something out onto watercolor paper and working over it?
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January 1, 2009 at 2:52 am #987649
Hi,
What I’ve really been meaning to do is to actually print a digital painting, or perhaps just line art, onto watercolor paper.
Then watercolor over it.
The challenges I see are:
–Finding a printer that will let 140lb paper go through without getting stuck.
–Printing with a type of ink that won’t be wear away when the watercolor is brushed over it, but also doesn’t repel the watercolor so much as to not soak up any paint.I already have experimented with using a personal Xerox machine to copy a drawing onto 90 lb watercolor paper. However, the type of ink it used was of the “dry magnetic powder” variety. After hardly brushing over it with the watercolor, I saw all my darks erode away. It looked pretty bad.
My new idea is to use a laser printer, because the ink seems to “stick” to the paper more. But, like I said above, I’m afraid it might repel the water too much. I suppose I could just make sure none of my darks are “too dark” though, so this shouldn’t be much of an issue.
As for the problem of fitting the thicker paper into it, I did find that this printer prints cardstock:
http://www.provantage.com/lexmark-26a0000~7LEXR01E.htmI’m assuming that if it can print 110lb cardstock, it could also handle watercolor paper of the same weight, perhaps even going as far as 140lb.
Anyone have experience with this who can help me out here?
I’m totally open to any product/printer recommendations, but would like to try to keep the purchase under $400.00.
Help much appreciated,
~K. ZirngiblCheck out my website!
www.kirstenzirngibl.comJanuary 1, 2009 at 7:56 am #1110906Hi Zirngibism
Happy new year.
The type of printer that would best suit you would need to have a straight paper path, from front to reat output. That is not fed via a vertical paper holder through the horizontal printer area. My old laserjet 3 had this feature but my newer (LJ4) one does not!
I have managed to get some 90lb watercolour paper through my Epson inkjet, but it was a struggle. I had to ‘force-feed it’. You night think about the surface texture as well. A smooth surface would probably be the most reliable for feeding. You also have to consider how the ‘ink’ will appear on the surface. That is. A very rough paper might not make a ‘continuous’ line due to the depressions in the surface.
I hope this helps
autolisp
Thank you, and I wish you the same!
About the printer, that does seem like a great point about it needing to be a straight paper path!
Now, I do have a question about your printer: Was it manufactured to support cardstock in addition to “normal” printer paper?
Also, what was your experience painting over top of what you printed out? Did the printed ink bleed at all? Did it permit the watercolor to absorb in a relatively normal fashion? (Wish I could test this, don’t have a printer :-\)
What worries me is that I remember accidentally spilling some water on a document printed from an ink jet, and instantly the printed ink bled away. Did you experience this with your Epson’s ink?
Anyway, glad to see someone else has tried this, and I’m curious to see how many others have.
Check out my website!
www.kirstenzirngibl.comJanuary 1, 2009 at 8:18 am #1110899Yes, many inkjet inks are not waterproof, although some are on the manufacturer’s approved papers. Why not give the print a light spray with an acrylic sealant before applying watercolours?
I made prints on Bockingford inkjet paper which is specially coated to accept inkjet ink on my Epson printer but I haven’t tried it on my current Canon. I do print note cards though, so I don’t think there will be a thickness problem.
Doug
We must leave our mark on this worldJanuary 1, 2009 at 11:20 am #1110904[FONT=Verdana]Hi K. Zirngibl,[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]I have an Epson R2400 and I have used it to print on CP 140# Arches. The R2400 has a straight through feed for thick media. I have printed finished ATC’s and Note cards. I have also used it to print light gray line drawings for paintings over with watercolor. I have not painted over colored prints so I can’t speak to that part of your question. I do plan to try Doug’s idea of sealing with Acrylic spray.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Good luck and Happy New Year.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Regards,[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Greg.[/FONT][FONT=Century Gothic]So when is this "Old enough to know better" supposed to kick in???
January 1, 2009 at 11:52 am #1110903Doug, wouldn’t the acrylic sealant keep it from absorbing water and color?
Shirl
http://picasaweb.google.com/shirlrparker/myart
“Try to be as nice a person as your dog thinks you are.” - The Puppy Zone
January 1, 2009 at 12:36 pm #1110900I have heard of people doing it before, never done it myself except to waterproof my prints.
A light spray is what I would advise. It’s worth a try.
Doug
We must leave our mark on this worldJanuary 1, 2009 at 2:32 pm #1110902You can paint over workable fixative but it does limit the absorbancy of the paper. One or two layers seems to be the limit, depending on the sizing of the paper you are using. I use Krylon’s.
[FONT=Arial]I'll check in again as soon as I can. [/COLOR]
[FONT=Arial]____________________________________________
[FONT=Arial]Laura
[FONT=Arial]***"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. And dance like no one is watching." – Anonymous!*** [FONT=Arial]http://www.lauradicus.comJanuary 1, 2009 at 7:12 pm #1110907Thanks for all the helpful replies, everyone!
I think I’m going to buy this:
http://www.provantage.com/epson-c11c698201~7EPSI05F.htmYorky: Hmmm… so the Bockingford inkjet paper binds to the ink so much that water can’t disturb it, even though the ink itself is water soluable?
Monastic Bat: Awesome! Hopefully the R1900 won’t be much different. Coincidentally Arches CP is what I was intending to use as well. By the way, I heard that higher-end Epsons have a water-resistant inkjet ink. Can you confirm this?
lueur: I had been thinking that too…
Laura D: Interesting. Maybe the spray soaks into the bottom of the paper, allowing some room for paint to sink in then?
autolisp: Yup! Though I am curious as to why it was a struggle to get 90lb through an Epson Inkjet when it worked great for someone else. Do you mind if I ask whether it was a low-end model?Check out my website!
www.kirstenzirngibl.comJanuary 1, 2009 at 8:10 pm #1110901Yorky: Hmmm… so the Bockingford inkjet paper binds to the ink so much that water can’t disturb it, even though the ink itself is water soluable?
I’m afraid not. It takes the ink well, but still needs spraying to make it waterproof.
BTW my old Epson had a paper thickness lever which could adjust for envelopes etc.
Doug
We must leave our mark on this worldJanuary 2, 2009 at 12:34 am #1110905[FONT=Times New Roman]I hope you have found all of this info helpful. I can not confirm water resistance of Epson’s ink. It appears that they do have an ink that is water resistant but I am not sure which printers it works in. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Here is a link to some Epson info – [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/Landing/InkTechHome.jsp[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Again good luck [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Regards,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Greg[/FONT]
[/SIZE][FONT=Century Gothic]So when is this "Old enough to know better" supposed to kick in???
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