ICC Profile???? Or Something Close?

I will be printing on Premier Museum Art Canvas 350gsm. ( 17 x 22) Satin finish. Problem is there is no profile for the 3800 on their website. So I am hoping someone has used this canvas, or could give a suggestion as to what settings to use. I will be rear feeding it through the bottom, with a small leader taped to it. Ultimately stretched on a Hahnemuhle Stick'n'Stetch frame to 12 x 18.

Jackie, if the media manufacturer itself doesn't have a profile for a specific printer/paper, then usually you're not going to find a source for it anywhere else on the web. Will you be doing a substantial amount of printing on this canvas? If so, it could be worth getting a custom profile done up. Usually the cost is quite reasonable, and just takes a bit of time to print the targets and send them out to the person who builds the profile for you. Then you won't have to worry about how "close" some other profile really is (or isn't).

If you wanted to at least try something close, the next closest profiles would be if the canvas company supplies them for the Epson 4800 or 7800/9800 printers. There are some head design differences between the 3800 and the other x800 printers, but at least the basic Ultrachrome K3 inkset is shared amongst these models so the results may be comparable. If you start trying profiles for other types of canvas then it becomes a more of a random thing because there's no telling how closely any other media will respond...

Thanks Royce. Custom profile never occurred to me. I have been in contact with the company and I am waiting to hear back. I will try some tests and see if I like this canvas well enough to get a custom profile. The thing that appealed to me was that it was available in sheets as I like to have control from beginning to end, from photo to print.

Yes, that's why many of us print our own stuff. I view profiling as a part of that process of taking control... or, at a minimum, understanding profile choices and making decisions in color management based on knowing the trade-offs & consequences. Of course, the company itself may be willing to create the profile... if not, there are some other good options. For example, Eric Chan definitely knows what he's doing in this regard.

Thanks again Royce.

Jackie - Are you determined to use only Premier canvas? I have been using Breathing Color's Lyve canvas (with their ICC profile down-loadable from their site) and I am thrilled with the final results. Perhaps you should give them a try. You can purchase a "trial" roll (17" x 20') for $29. They also sell 13x19 and 17x22 sheets. Use their Timeless coating (Satin) which can be rolled on with great success.

No Mark not particularly set on the Premier, it was just the size. I have heard nothing but glowing reports about Lyve canvas. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anyone up here that sells sheets in Canada. You have so much more choice of everything in the States. I hope It will make an appearance on the shelves up here soon.

I also highly recommend BC Lyve canvas for both Color and B&W on the 3880/00.
FWIW, your cost in Canada is going to be egregiously inflated. Order direct from BC, the shipping & VAT will/should result in a lower price.
Call direct: 1-866-722-6567--don't wait for anyone to fill their shelves or yours!

In addition, BC also sells the gallery wrap frames identical to Hahnemule (the source is the same).

My best method for loading Lyve canvas into our 38xx printer is using the normal rear auto feed. I set the platen gap to wide or wider and the media thickness to 6 (6/10 of a mm or ~24 mil). I load the sheet (or cut from roll) directly into rear auto feed, gently holding it in place, I press the paper advance button (also known as the paper eject), it's the button at the South' pole of the 4way matrix. The canvas will then feed into its preset position and stop. If it is not gripped properly the printer will tell you. Lift the canvas up and out or press the eject button. Repeat to reload, 90+% of the time I get a proper load, 99% I get a fine print after this preloading technique. More important, after the preload, you can judge if the canvas is properly aligned--for large sheets of media there is a tendency for the media to skew during the printing cycle. Often I will increase the margins on my print, if skewing does occur I can then trim the print for 'squareness'--for framed matted prints this will not be necessary.
Keep your rollers clean!!!
BC Lyve is quite curl free, sheets of any size can be cut from a roll (17" for 38xx) yielding convenience and further reduced cost. The BC profiles for Lyve canvas address both Photo and Matte black inks (dye & pigmt).
Do try their Crystalline canvas, it is fabbed with a Glossy or Satin surface requiring no additional sealing/coating. Yields very fine detail and visual 'pop'!

good luck irv weiner

Follow--up Just found their 'rep' list buried on site. Still valid?
Paul Morales is my contact guy, very helpful tech Mgr. ext 123 @ phone# above.

Canada
Amplis Foto
22 Telson Rd., Markham
Ontario L3R 1E5
Canada
(905) 477 4111 x 118
bc@amplis.com

Curious about their trial roll price of Lyve. irv weiner
4

Thanks Irv for all the valuable info. Do you cut your roll canvas with a square to get the leading edge straight? Also how do you clean your rollers?

I 'attempt' to clean the rollers with a thick sheet of paper or several sheets of 'copy' paper moderately moistened with isopropyl alcohol. I had used a sheet of uncoated canvas which worked quite well. Thickness varied between 20-30 mils (0.5--0.75mm) As the media was pulled thru I gently held the trailing edge to increase the friction and get a better wipe. I would repeat this action 1 or 2 more times--for the buildup of fine 'crap' one would not notice much. But when you notice hairs, fibers or actual paper shards coming out your cleaning is effective. Now, the removal of the fine stuff is just as important even though it may not be very visible--this particulate matter serves as an excellent lubricant encouraging paper slippage. After the cleaning cycles, I feed a sheet of 'dry' media thru several times to pick up any remaining alcohol--and using a 'rocket' blower to enhance evaporation.

Advice for cutting canvas I owe to the members of this forum, especially the working pros that have doing this for several decades ans generously shared their knowledge. I initially purchased a Dahle 508 rotary cutter (per my camera club members), it was fine for paper, worked only 'so-so' for light canvas but disastrous on full bodied canvas.
I cautiously tried to cut 'real'' canvas on a large board with a fresh bladed box cutter and hvy wt steel straight edge--the cuts were OK but the manhandling of the canvas resulted in micro flaking and the capture of unwanted particles. The members of NS pointed me to Rotatrim product line, not cheap for a serious hobbyist, just the gold standard for working printer-framers. I initially considered the 18" Master cutter since my 3880 handles 17" width but realized that cutting and trimming to 13x19, 16x20 or 16x25 would require a wider 'throat'. IIRC the 18" model was ~$165 and the 24" was ~$275, the 24" would actually cut to 25". I gulped, bought it and never looked back! You can't imagine the pleasure in successfully trimming 'slivers' away from a 20+" print.
Squaring the edges is neatly accomplished, the working side edge depth is 12". more than adequate to square a 17x37 media/print for the 3880. Again, NOT manhandling the media is important, I have cut a slit in the box containing the media roll, scotch-taped the top&bot of the slit for a smooth feed and then cut off the rqd length + 1/4" with a sharp scissor. Next, the Rotatrim easily trimmed my paper to final size with square edges. The square edges are important since the Epson appears to align the leading edge to be perp to the sidewalls--if not square this correction will result in the media being fed with a 'corrective' skew to the finished print. This 'error', if not excessive can be corrected by re-trimming with the Rotatrim.

BTW, dickblick sells super fiber tip retouching pens. I use the set of 4 each in cool gray or warm gray for touchup on canvas. start with the lightest first.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/faber ... ens/#items

I hope this info takes you a bit further. irv weiner

I really appreciate you taking the time with all this detailed information. It is not time wasted. I hope to incorporate this with an upcoming workshop I will be doing on printing called "Pixels2Pigment" with Martin Bailey in September.

With all the help I was able to make a lovely 12 x 18 print. No response from the company, so I used the 7800 Epson Satin Matte profile, Ultra Smooth fine art paper, and set the platen gap to wide. I wouldn't have been able to do it w/o the responses I received here.
Rear loaded with a leader, and it really turned out well.
I will be trying the Lyve Canvas next, thanks to Mark P, and Irv W, for your help/suggestions.
Also found a good link to do a gallery wrap. www.melor.com. Saved me a lot of time and does different edge sizes and styles.

I, too, use the Lyve canvas and the Timeless Satin finish for prints from my 3800. I buy the rolls and cut to use as I am then able to print up to 30" long using the Stick & Stretch from Amplis. They have deals on the purchase of 3 rolls for a good discount.

Hi,

Apologies for a partial thread hijack...

Irv, I'm not familiar with the 3800, but if the rollers are rubber then you should not clean them with Isopropyl alcohol it will harden rubber and over time reduce grip. To clean rubber rollers use a platen cleaner/rubber restorer there are plenty of options on a quick internet search of those terms.

Regards

Kev