Having had a year producing digital prints and now currently working with an Olympus 2000 and an Epson printer and getting quite acceptable results how do you protect the surface of the finished print which seems to be extremely vulnerable to abrasion when handled? Is there a spray or some affordable lamination available to us amateurs? As an old time photographer of many years darkroom dabbling I must say that I think digital photography is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

-- john pinkus (jessolive@aol.com), October 16, 1999

Answers

Two things come to mind, UV protectant spray, and cold laminating film. The spray can be found in some art supply stores and the film is available in almost any office supply store. It doesn't require heat, it's self-adhesive. After applying it you burnish it out with a flat/rounded edged tool or a thumbnail and get a good bubble free bond to the paper. I'd try to find the spray for a less noticeable final result. Although, the film isn't bad with plain epson high resolution paper as it gives the final result a heft approaching a print. The film is pretty reasonably priced. I bought a box of 50, 9X12" sheets in a Sam's Club (Walmart's Discount Club) a while back for well under $10.

Good Luck!

-- Gerald Payne (gmp@francorp.francomm.com), October 16, 1999.

You might want to take a look at www.tssphoto.com/sp/dg/. They have two spray products listed on the page under Archival Top-Coat Spray.

-- Dale R Dankulich (dalerd01@earthlink.net), October 16, 1999.

I read a post that said they were using Krylon clear gloss spray paint and were getting results that looked like 35mm quality print which is water resistant. I'm going to try it. Can probably get the spray at Walmart.

-- Judith King (jaking300@aol.com), January 18, 2000.