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| Aluminum print with textured stone finish In 2011 we have added a new "One on One" alternative media printing workshop to our schedule. I would like to take a few minutes and show you one of the exciting projects we work on here. I have quite a few images from the south west United States and wanted something a little unusual to set them off. The textured stone finish available in several colors gives that unique desert southwest sandy look. I am starting with .028 aluminum that I had custom cut from 10 foot sheets. A very cost effective way to print metal if you are doing more then just a few prints. After scuffing the metal with 320 grit sandpaper it was ready to receive the first coat of Rust-Oleum "Stone Textured" finish. |
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| Raw aluminum sheet ready for textured stone coating. The first coating is a nice primer and after drying for 15 minutes is ready for the final heavy topcoat. |
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| Aluminum coated with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum textured stone |
After the second coating of textured stone was applied. I left it dry for 2 hours just to make sure the surface was dry enough to accept the Inkaid print receptor coating.
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| Applying 3 coats of Inkaid over stone textured metal. The Inkaid is a slow drying receptor coating that enables injet printing on any surface coated with it. It normally takes overnight for proper drying between coats. I have several portable electric heaters set up to reduce the total drying time to a half day. For most of my metal prints 2 coats is sufficient. In this case I used 3 because of the rough texture. Printed through the front feed of my Epson 3800. Came out pretty sharp looking and am anxious to try another.  |
