Why Coat Your Inkjet Prints?

There are many advantages to coating your inkjet prints. Firstly, coatings provide protection from fingerprints, atmospheric pollutants, UV light, moisture, and help provide resistance to scuff marks on prints made with pigment inks.

Further, Wilhelm Imaging, the only real authorities on the issue, indicate that coatings can seriously increase the longevity of your prints, especially a concern with dye based inkjet printers .Another reason to coat prints is to reduce bronzing and gloss differential - in most cases, coating your prints will eliminate all but the most severe problems.

Hahnemuhle Protective Spray is the classic inkjet print coating, suitable for all papers/canvases, except super high gloss papers. It is a very thin coating and essentially invisible.

Ilford Liquid Laminates are specifically for canvas prints and come in three different coatings, allowing you to choose the type of finish – matte, gloss and semi-gloss. These coatings are thicker, and are applied using a standard brush or roller.  They are more visible on the canvas than the Hahnemuhle Protective Spray.

This isn't a protective coating per se, but it's worth a mention for those wanting to create inkjet prints from non-coated media, like traditional art papers.  Ilford Creative Emulsion is a water-based, inkjet coating solution that is applied manually to the paper surface to create an inkjet receiving layer which will produce an image with a wide colour gamut, excellent sharpness and colour density.