Downsides of rolling a print ink side out ?

aivc · Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:24 am

I was talking to a gallery owner here in Belgium recently. The guy has been shipping screen prints rolled for 30 years now. He was really surprised to hear that I rolled my prints with the ink side in. In his experience, rolling the print with the ink side facing out is largely superior to the alternative. He said it was better for 2 reasons. First, the ink is "stretched" instead of being compressed, which makes the unrolling and flattening process faster and easier. Second, there is no risk of having any king of chub rub.

I was worried about the ink being in direct contact with the kraft paper, so he advised me to simply used kraft paper -> tissue paper -> print facing down.

Now I haven't tried this technique yet, but when talking with the guy, I couldn't tell him why most of us roll ink side in. There must be a reason, right ? I'm hoping some of you veterans can help me figure this out once and for all.

noweyesee · Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:45 am

I have received a lot of obey prints where the roll ink side out.

PrintNoob87 · Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:48 am

Interesting. I've received a bunch of giclees that were rolled ink-out. Not any screenprints that I can remember off the top of my head.

jrsheppa · Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:59 am

PrintNoob87 wrote:Interesting. I've received a bunch of giclees that were rolled ink-out. Not any screenprints that I can remember off the top of my head.

Giclees are always supposed to the rolled out because rolling in might damage the ink.

OP, I don't think there is any problem with rolling out. I think the custom is just to roll in, and as a result, we blindly do this without question.

haven · Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:03 am

jrsheppa wrote:
PrintNoob87 wrote:Interesting. I've received a bunch of giclees that were rolled ink-out. Not any screenprints that I can remember off the top of my head.
Giclees are always supposed to the rolled out because rolling in might damage the ink.

OP, I don't think there is any problem with rolling out. I think the custom is just to roll in, and as a result, we blindly do this without question.

I'm not sure this is entirely accurate. I think for the most part they're rolled ink side out simply because that's how the paper is curled when it comes off the printer.

Superfro33 · Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:18 am

aivc wrote:First, the ink is "stretched" instead of being compressed, which makes the unrolling and flattening process faster and easier.

Absolutely. Tom Whalen sends a lot of his prints image side down and they are usually almost completely flat within a day or two. It's pretty handy.

alittle · Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:21 am

haven wrote:
jrsheppa wrote:
PrintNoob87 wrote:Interesting. I've received a bunch of giclees that were rolled ink-out. Not any screenprints that I can remember off the top of my head.
Giclees are always supposed to the rolled out because rolling in might damage the ink.

OP, I don't think there is any problem with rolling out. I think the custom is just to roll in, and as a result, we blindly do this without question.
I'm not sure this is entirely accurate. I think for the most part they're rolled ink side out simply because that's how the paper is curled when it comes off the printer.

This is what I thought as well.

aivc · Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:56 am

Good to know that some artist do it as well. So basically no downside to it, sweet.

Anyone know if the tissue paper between the kraft and the inkside of the print is needed tho ? I thought it would be a good precaution, since some kraft paper can have a "rough" finish, and I wouldn't want that to damage the whole print.

Superfro33 · Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:59 am

aivc wrote:Good to know that some artist do it as well. So basically no downside to it, sweet.

Anyone know if the tissue paper between the kraft and the inkside of the print is needed tho ? I thought it would be a good precaution, since some kraft paper can have a "rough" finish, and I wouldn't want that to damage the whole print.

Better safe than sorry, but I think rolling this way actually alleviates a larger amount of scuffing potential personally.

I personally would still never send things this way though. Because people are freaks and can't understand reason.

peacedog · Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:39 pm

Canvases are typically rolled with the painted body outwards for the reasons you site of compressing the paint once it's restretched as opposed to cracking it apart. I've seen paintings and cheap giclees on canvas that once stretched crack up from being rolled inwards (the latter probably had more to do with the quality of printing than the roll as well), but canvases are under considerably more strain from the stretching process than a paper print. I would think it would have to be a seriously thick coating of ink before would become an issue with screen prints.

bryndavies · Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:09 pm

Rebooting this thread. What about giclees? Peacedog, amd thoughts? Out or in?

peacedog · Fri Nov 28, 2014 9:40 pm

bryndavies wrote:Rebooting this thread. What about giclees? Peacedog, amd thoughts? Out or in?

jrsheppa makes a good point that it's more likely to scuff the image with the edge of the paper when you start the roll as the surface is typically more sensitive on giclees. We see a lot more chub rub on giclees that screen prints. The paper does typically come off the printer this way as well, but I'd hazard a guess at that it's easier to deal with the slow printing process with the image not rolling back on itself as it's printed out.

On the other hand, unrolling a gicler is far easier when it's rolled with the image inside so you can weight the edge and simply unroll it. Unrolling a monster Geddes on heavy paper rolled with the image on the outside can be a real pain if you don't have some help to make sure you don't crimp an edge. When framing, they also tend to cup forward towards the glass as opposed towards the backing if they have a lot of memory in the paper which can be problematic.