Dear LF folks,
I've been running into a somewhat unusual problem with my printing. I discovered it by accident.
I print using K3 Ultrachrome inks (Epson 4800/9800) and have printed on Museo Silver Rag paper. I've tried "drying" my prints up to 3 days with two paper exchanges (weighted down with the blotting paper on top) as suggested by Epson to get rid of gas ghosting. I don't seem to have encountered any gas ghosting problems.
However, a while ago, one of my matted/framed prints with acrylic glazing was exposed to direct sunlight for a few minutes (around 5-10 minutes on a bright day). This caused vapor to start to form on inside of the acrylic. As I left the print in the sun longer, more vapor accumulated. Eventually, there was enough to actually form a droplet that ran down the inside of the acrylic. Taking the framed print out of the sun for, say, 20 minutes, made all the vapor go away leaving no trace on the acrylic. The vapor seemed to form mainly above the lighter areas on the print, but it's hard to tell if that was really a hard and fast rule.
Has any one else run into a problem like this, and have you heard of a solution? I don't think this is the dreaded gas ghosting because that reportedly leaves a "film" on the glazing that has to be cleaned off. I think this is water vapor or some other kind of non-marking liquid outgassing from either the paper or the inks.
Thanks!
Michael
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