Flush Mounting the last few feet of Canvas from the end of a roll

[wildstork]

This is a question for those who have attempted this and have direct experience with flush mounting a canvas print on hardboard or a similar flat substrate (ie: 1/2" Gator Foam, Sintra, plywood or any other hard, flat substrate while using a PVA Adhesive or Acrylic Medium).

I'm down to the last few feet of canvas on a 44" roll and need the last three feet for a 30x40" print.  The canvas at the end of each roll shows ridges running across the width of the roll due to the canvas folding over on the spot where the canvas first attaches to the roll.  I'm wondering of anyone has successfully flush mounted the last few feet of any roll of canvas without having these 44" ridges show up in the mounted print?  I normally cut up the last few feet of each roll and use this for test prints, but I need to make one final print for a group show and there's not enough time to buy another roll.

Any advice will be much appreciated. 

[Paul2660]

You can safely use it all the way to the end, when you flush mount it for example on gator, with miracle muck, you will not see the impressions.  Depending on the print, you may be able to stretch it and not see them either.  They tend to look worse before you print on them.   I use black gator, mainly to help see the glue so you know you have even coverage.

The padded rolls from Breathing color prevent the impressions and you can go to the end of the roll without the marks.  They are using the padded rolls on all their canvas now. 

Paul Caldwell

[wildstork]

Thank you, Paul.
I'm using Breathing Color Canvas but it's obviously of an older vintage as there's no padding on the roll.  I've often wondered why paper companies don't do something like this as I often lose the last five or more feet from each roll of cotton rag paper as well as canvas... though I cut these up and use them for test prints.

I made the print shortly before you responded to my query, Paul, and it appears that the surface imperfection has flattened out considerably just by having ink on it.

Thank you again for your timely response.

Lawrence

[bill t.]

Any way you can get that ripply canvas tightly attached to a flat surface will work.  Just be aware that in cases where you are printing monotonic colors like clear skies over ripples, there is some chance the ripples will slightly band the coloration.  That's going to be pretty subtle and never shows up in textured areas, but in pristine skies you never know.  So if possible load the ripply sheet or rotate the printing file to put the ripples under textured image areas.  But all you've got to lose is about $6 worth of ink, it's a good gamble.

You get a shorter length of ripple-affected area on canvas that comes on 2" rolls, which I believe is why Epson switched over to those recently, and why Sunset Select should do that soon.  And yes, BC's padded cores let you work to the last inch, although in some circumstances when the canvas comes entirely off a roll during printing it can re-attach the emulsion side of the canvas to the tape with a pretty strong bond and mess up whatever's printing a couple feet ahead.  You should be attentive to that possibility as you get to the last wind layer.

[Justan]

I'm wondering of anyone has successfully flush mounted the last few feet of any roll of canvas without having these 44" ridges show up in the mounted print?

My printer accepts up to 24” rolls but my experience has been that by surface mounting and using Miracle Muck, the bands are reduced, but not eliminated. The canvas is crushed where it laps the end of the roll and due to this, while it will lay flat when glued, that itself doesn’t undo the damage to the canvas. I typically print on it anyway. Most of the time the damage is minor enough to be dismissed as a typical quirk of canvas, but sometimes I'll toss the work because it's not so minor.