Printing text on back side of fine art inkjet papers?

[Chuck S.]

This might be desireable for copyright statement & title purposes, since prints are hinged & not full mounted.

Using an Epson 3880. Has anyone run a sheet of heavy, single coated FB paper back side first for text, then flipping it for the image?

Would the image side be damaged?

Would the ink just blot out, or print clean?

Anything visible from image side?

Any possibility of damaging the printer?

Did a couple of forum searches on this topic, but didn't find anything. Might experiment, but wanted ask here first. Many thanks.

[Kirk Gittings]

Easy enough to check these potential problems.

Some papers are manufactured double sided for book projects etc. So I would assume that most printers won't damage the other side. Having said that as few people do this one can't assume its without problems.

[Jon Shiu]

I have printed both sides for small take away cards and it worked fine. I used Epson watercolor paper, plain paper setting.

Jon

[invisibleflash]

Sometimes problems other times not. Depends how clean the printer is. Certain papers wont accept ink on the back and it smudges. Lots of nice paper out there and back printing wont work. Rag, cellulose and 'some' fibre papers work best.

[Vaughn]

Printing on both sides like that sounds like a good idea. That way one uses the same ink on both sides. I hate it when the image fades faster than the info on the back. (okay -- bad joke...but I still like it!)

[Chuck S.]

Well, tried it on the back of a small print on Epson Exhibition Fiber.

Created blank document, composed type & printed in Photoshop. Stayed with Photo Black ink even though back of paper is matte. (Wasn't going to do an ink changeover for two lines of text.) Worked well, though type is not deep-deep black, and did feather just a little on the uncoated surface. Kind of a typewriter with cloth ribbon look.

Will be doing some printing on matte papers in the near future. Will try again with MK black and report back.

Also tried on back of cheap Costco RC glossy paper. Ink obviously sitting on surface and will not dry. Smears easily, even after several hours. Other RC papers would probably behave the same.

[Adamphotoman]

There are digital ink receptor coatings that can be applied to the back of your favourite paper. Then you can back print with quality.
Golden Artist Color makes very good products.

http://www.goldenpaints.com/products/gesso-ground/grounds-for-digital-imaging

[Tyler Boley]

I did this for an entire edition of a body of work, totaling 400 prints. I wanted something like what we used to do with a stamp.. so all I had to do was fill in title, dates, edition, etc.. I couldn't see doing that by hand for that body of work. The paper was Epson Cold Press Natural. You can print on the back of any paper without too much trouble if your tones are light, I used a light gray.
121489
This was done before printing on the image side,I had never done it before and turned out to be a mistake in some ways. The 9900 rollers definitely impacted the coated printing side of the paper. My tests did not reveal this, only later finals in areas of smooth dark tones. When held to an angle just right, you could see the roller marks. It effected the reflective quality of the coating, even though it too ink just fine.
Bottom line, yes it works, but test it with your printer, and your paper, with smooth image areas, including very dark areas. I wound up wasting a LOT of paper...

[jp]

What's wrong with a stamp?

[Tyler Boley]

What's wrong with a stamp?

Nothing at all, though ink choice should be thought out. I went this way for a variety of reasons, it solved several issues at once, but they are outside the OP's original topic of printing on the back of inkjet papers. Stamps are a good way to go.. I did however, not find a maker that had a larger size I wanted. My intention was to use carbon gray on the ink pad, anyway, that's another discussion.