# My First Canvas Print with my HM1 :) updated with more pics.



## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Well today I was having a bad day with medical news, so I thought you know what, I am going to put my ink back in my machine and finally experiment on Canvas with it. 

I did a couple of test runs, adjusted my settings to get the best color and ink layer and this is what I got. It made me love my machine all over again. It is truly amazing what you can do with these machines.

I first pretreated my canvas with inkaid matte primer
Then the settings I use were 720 x 720 ink layer, cotton substrate, photo normal, unidirectional, generate pure blacks and spot colors. The canvas is a 11" x 14" canvas.

Before I chose these settings my prints were coming out very green and not very clear (I used one canvas just to get my settings right), but once I figured out what settings worked best, well what can I say, I think it is totally amazing the quality of the print I was able to get.

I hope you all enjoy my first attempt at canvas printing. Now I think I am going to have a new addiction, with all the photographs I have taken


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## Forry (Jul 7, 2008)

Looks fantasic!! 

well done!


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## equipmentzone1 (Nov 22, 2008)

I wonder what your results would be without using primer.

Looks good, though!

-Alex


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I did try it without primer and the colors were a bit less vibrant, and a bit more off. The primer really gave it that extra pop in color. The canvas's I found are 100% cotton, and I think I only paid about $4 a piece. I bought them in bulk  They are mounted on a one inch wood frame as well, so it was a really great price on them. The ink aid is really easy to apply, I just used a small paint brush and brushed it on, and it dried in like 20 minutes. I could see just priming a bunch of them all at once, like the night before to do multiple canvases.

Then nice thing is not having to cure the ink  I also have several different top coats that I am going to play with such as gloss, simi gloss, matte, and pearl


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## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

Very, very good. I like them. And, of course, your subject is adorable.


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## GHEENEE1 (Jan 8, 2007)

BobbieLee, I hope you have some good medical news soon. Very creative of you to DTG canvas's. Mike


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## te (Nov 25, 2006)

great pics on the canvas.
where did you buy the canvas at that great price,and the matte primer? i have a dtg printer and was looking to get into doing canvas.
thanks for the settings also
te


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

te said:


> great pics on the canvas.
> where did you buy the canvas at that great price,and the matte primer? i have a dtg printer and was looking to get into doing canvas.
> thanks for the settings also
> te


Here is a link to the canvas Art Canvas, 11" x 14" Stretched Cotton Art Canvas, Painting Canvas. They are only $4 a piece when buying the five pack. They have a ton of different sizes available as well.

Hope this helps  The matte primer I use is inkaid, I just bought the sample pack with is six different types and I think it was around $20 for the sample pack. This stuff really spreads out when you are brushing it on, so it does not take much at all.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Ok I have finished this project I was working on. Its a series of four canvases that I made for my daughter. My grand baby turned 3 today and her party is tomorrow, so I was trying to get these done before then and accompished my goal  She got a big girl bedroom for her birthday so I thought it would be cool to make a series of prints for her bedroom wall to be hung in a square. They came out amazing, at least I think so hehe. 

Here are pics of the other three prints. I took these photos last week at the park here, specifically for this occasion.

I added some closeups of the rocks and shoes so you could see the incredible detail


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

GHEENEE1 said:


> BobbieLee, I hope you have some good medical news soon. Very creative of you to DTG canvas's. Mike


I hope you get some good news soon too!

And nice job- you turned it into a good day!


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## Brian-R (Apr 21, 2008)

Wow! 
It looks like the print wraps around the edge. Did you print them before you put the canvas on the stretcher bars?
If not, how did you get the registration worked out?
Very nice work. Thanks for sharing.

I hope that you see better days soon.
You are in our thoughts and prayers.

Brian


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Brian the way I printed them was to just go almost an 1/8 of an inch over sized, so that I made sure I got all the way to the edge  I think I am also going to get some of that blue painters tape and even tape off the edges, just to make sure the line is super clean over the edge. The way I lined them up was to the front right corner of my printbed, and the top left of my graphics program. I figured it would be easier to work from a corner instead of the center of the bed.


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## cheryla00 (May 8, 2009)

That looks great! Did you spray it with a post treatment afterwards?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Thanks  I actually used a brush one, the ink aid semi gloss coating.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

You know what? I just realized that I took these pics before I put the coating on. 
I forgot to take pics afterwards, but will try to some next time I go to my daughters as that is where they are now


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## uktech (Jun 3, 2009)

Nice work sunny, good to see someone making the most of the HM1


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## MardiGrasTexan (Oct 11, 2008)

Awesome stuff BobbieLee. Absolutely awesome.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Ok here is an update on the canvases themselves. All Canvas is not created equal. I started looking around because I thought well I am going to order some more canvases, but I thought I would try somewhere else to see the difference in quality. All I can say is thank god I did. I found such a nice canvas for close to the same price, but the difference in them is amazing on the stretching and framing. 

I will post a couple of pics.

The nicely framed ones are on the bottom and the first ones I tried on the top. It is amazing the difference of the work that went into the nicer ones, without all the excess canvas overlapping. They are nicely stretched and tucked in the frame, where as the first ones I used are just folded over and stapled.

The nice ones I got here CanvasPlace Brand Canvas -- 3/4" deep. I believe they also carry the cheaper ones that I first got, even though I got them somewhere else, because they do have a cheaper one listed. But the nice ones I got I feel are well worth the extra couple of bucks .  
Hope this helps someone.

So here are a couple of pics of the really nice ones I got.


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## Brian-R (Apr 21, 2008)

BobbieLee,

Just curious how your canvas printing is going.
Have you perfected the process any more? What is your favorite post treatment?
Have you tried heat setting the inks after printing or do you just let it air dry? How long does it take to air dry?
I really want to try this and print some pics for the grand kids. 

Brian


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## andrew625 (May 3, 2008)

could you please explain what the advantages are of DTG for canvas printing over existing print methods (sorry im not to clued up on these but i had a google and there seems alot of places offering canvas prints for pretty cheep on the web)

but yeah, what's the advantages? resolution? costing? why choose DTG for this process over existing methods?
thanks.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

> why choose DTG for this process over existing methods?


The reason for using a DTG for this is twofold. Number one - it is another way to make money with the machine if you already have one. Second - using a flatbed printer like a DTG let's one use pre-stretched canvas, eliminating the need to know how to do this properly.

Hope this helps!


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Brian-R said:


> BobbieLee,
> 
> Just curious how your canvas printing is going.
> Have you perfected the process any more? What is your favorite post treatment?
> ...



Sorry such a slacker in answering Brian  my dad has surgery last week so been kind of busy helping him.

I have printed quite a few more canvases, and I have to say I love them  I have all the different top coats such as the pearl finish and high gloss. but the only one I have used yet is the matte finish (which I love ) because they have all been orders so have not had time to play  I have also figured out to get a cleaner line on the edge, I started using the blue painters tape on the sides so that I get a really clean crisp edge. I really like the way the matte finish looks, but I think the gloss will be nice too. I am thinking that one might take two coats to really get a nice finish on it. 

The canvases actually dry fairly quick. Like probably an hour, before coating with the top coat. I thought they would take much longer but they dont. I have not tried heating the ink to cure because I worry about the fade. I know with the primer, print and top coat the colors stay super bright. I would worry about fading the ink, like on a shirt if I were to apply heat to them you know?

I plan to play some more soon, I promise haha. Will need lots of pics of the grand baby on canvas for Christmas gifts. You know, its a really great item to offer for the holidays. I have been trying to get better at my photography so that I can gear myself more in that direction, to take the photos and print them. I am in the middle of setting up a mini photography studio, now that I have gotten all my awesome camera equipment  I have found a new love hehe.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

andrew625 said:


> could you please explain what the advantages are of DTG for canvas printing over existing print methods (sorry im not to clued up on these but i had a google and there seems alot of places offering canvas prints for pretty cheep on the web)
> 
> but yeah, what's the advantages? resolution? costing? why choose DTG for this process over existing methods?
> thanks.


Don is correct in his answer, its simply because I can put the premounted canvas through my printer because I have the depth and flatness needed to fit them through the printer. On the regular wide format printers you would have to print the canvas first, and then either stretch it and mount it to the frame yourself, or pay someone else to do this for you. You also get the print with the sides white on the frame sides, which is called museum mount, and if you look this up, you will find its more expensive then a regular mount which has print on all sides. This is because most printers, like I said stretch and mount it after printer, and it is too hard to line up the edges of the print with the frame, so they just stretch the print all the way over. With printing on the mounted canvases with a dtg, you are able to do the much more uncommon museum mount prints. 

Hope that explains it better


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

When I print canvases I will place them on the heat press to allow the ambient heat from the press dry them faster. In a crunch I have also used a blow dryer or heat gun to dry the pretreat, inks and post treatment faster.

Hope this helps!


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