My grandfather shot, developed, and printed all of his own film. The original of this image is about 2"x3". I wanted to keep the feel of the age of the original while still making it new and fresh.  How could I take something old, make it new, and yet still make it look old?  After a few experiments, I finally settled with printing it on brown packing paper that was coated with InkAid. I love the crinkles, the curls and the texture this paper provides to the images. It speaks to me.

If you have never used it before, InkAid is a solution created to allow you to turn fine art papers into photo paper. If you have seen a photo printed on plain copy paper compared to a photo printed on inkjet photo paper, you know what a difference there is.  InkAid gives the depth and vibrance.  It also gives you freedom of expression to print on art papers. I have seen it successfully used on watercolor paper, rice paper, handmade papers, bamboo, and wood venire. 

Here are a few others from this series that I have been working on. It is still a work in progress. I'm not sure what the final presentation will be for this images, but I hope to find a way to combine my family history in photography with my owner personal work and images into a project that looks back at where I have come from while looking forward to where I am going. 

InkAid makes lots of different precoats that once applied on a surface and dried, ink is virtually able to be pushed into the coating. Since I wanted to keep my first substrate clear, I used a Clear Gloss Precoat: Type II on the dura-lar and applied it with a sponge brush. The general rule of thumb is the more coatings you use, the better the clarity. And with multiple coats, you are ensuring you covered the entire substrate. For my second substrate I used an Iridescent Medium from liquitex, an Iridescent Pearl Gloss Precoat and the Type II precoat. To put it simply, I just wanted some sparkles on this one.

Below are the exact coatings I used for each substrate:

Dura-lar Clear Gloss Precoat: Type II – 3 coatings

Cutting Mat Iridescent Medium – 1 coating Iridescent Pearl Gloss Precoat – 2 coatings Type II – 2 coatings

You should wait 24 hours in between each coating, butttt I was a little impatient and only waited 8 hours. I did wait 24 hours after the final coating before I printed.

So, now that everything is dry, we are ready to print on the cutting mat. The last thing we have to do to the dura-lar is add a colored tape to the top, so the printer will recognize that there is something there…the sensors can’t read something that’s clear.

Alright, tape applied and we have a green light. DO NOT print on the wrong side or you are guaranteeing the death of your printer. After printing is done, I always let everything sit for 12 hours before I spray each piece with a protectant coat. I personally have never seen a difference between the Clearjet Type A2000 and the Krylon crystal clear, so I use whichever.

The cool thing about the cutting mat is that the coatings have almost become a skin and can be peeled off.  I chose to keep mine on the mat, but the easiest way to peel the coatings off is to cut the edges with an exacto knife and pop the mat into the freezer. I found the skin sticks in the humidity. And now we are finished!