Breathing Color Allure Metal-Photo Panels-First Impressions

When the Breathing Color Allure Photo Panels were announced for the public to be able to purchase samples I placed my order and awaited there arrival. So approximately a month ago I received my sample box which included two 13x19 photo panels and a printed sample with glossy over-laminate. Also in the box were instructions on printing.

When I received the sample pack I started reading through the instructions and inspected the panels. The panels have a plastic protective sheet on the coated surface and the edges of the panels are slightly rolled over and sharp from the sheering.

The sample print was not quite the quality print I would think a company trying to make an impression would send out. The image printed does not seem to show off the color qualities that Breathing Color would like you to walk away with.  The over-laminate has a few bubbles in it and has the standard egg shell texture from the lamination process.

I own an Epson 9890 printer for Fine art prints and canvas' and had planned on using this printer for testing,  except that Breathing Color does not have an ICC profile for this printer. They have an ICC profile for the Epson 9900 but not certain what others. There recommendation was to use the Doubleweight Matte settings for the 9890.

Due to the sharp edges on the panel facing upward towards the coated side, I decided to sand the edges smooth for fear that my printhead would become damaged without doing so.  After sanding I used a Anti Static Sticky roller to remove excess debris from the panel. Surprisingly, I found a fair amount of the coating that was loose on the panel.

Initially when placing the panel into the printer it would not smoothly feed, so I had to open the top paper cover. This allowed the panel to feed smoothly into the printer.  In order to print from my Windows PC, the instructions state to choose the Double Weight Matte paper but then change the paper config so that the Paper Thickness setting is 10 and the Platten Gap is set to wider.

Because I had no ICC profile to work with I chose to let the printer driver handle all color management. This is something I would not normally do. My normal workflow includes custom made profiles. The print came out of the printer without any mechanical issues as I would have expected. After inspection of the actual print I felt that the shadows were all blotched up and did not maintain detail at all. The mid-tones and highlights looked good and held up detail. But again, utilizing the printer manages color on my 9890, all detail in the shadows was shot.

A surprising characteristic of the coating is that it is very soft and seems to scratch easily. I found this out by placing a enhanced matte print on top of the panel and then accidentally dragging the papers corner across the surface of the Allure panel. This made a slight scratch in the surface. These scratches become more visible after over laminating the print.

Breathing Color states that you will have to over-laminate the print, and this was most definitely evident after scratching it. Otherwise, as a matte surface I think it would look nice without the lamination, especially if a custom profile was created. During conversations with Breathing Color about lamination they said that it could be done fairly inexpensively at a kinko's or some other printing firm that offers laminating services. Well, that is easier said than done. I went to one of the large local Fed Ex Kinko's near my house and they would not touch the stuff. I then went to the Staples store and they had no clue how to even run the lamination equipment. But, stated I would have to come back and speak with a department manager to see if they would be able to laminate it. I made one other stop at a small franchised FedEx shipping store and they did not have a problem laminating it if I assumed the risk if it did not come out correctly. I was more than happy to oblige. I had to leave the print behind so there machine could warm up, not a problem. About an hour later they called and stated that the print was done but they felt that there were small pits in the surface caused by the hot lamination, but they were not certain. After picking up the print I inspected the results and found that the pits might have been from the coating itself but uncertain if that is the case. The instructions do not specifically state cold or hot lamination, but the machines they refer to are cold laminators. I also found small fragments of dust between the lamination layer and the print. The Kinko's rep stated that this might be due to the infrequent use of the lamination equipment. I feel that this is probably a very accurate statement.

The print still requires shearing. If that is anything like Dye Sublimation prints it will be interesting to see if the coating chips off during the process.

In the end of round one I believe that the Allure product does not offer any advantages over laminating a paper print to the face of a sheet of aluminum and certainly does not appear to have an appearance that is better than a Dye Sublimated print on Chromaluxe. Does it have any longevity advantages, I do not know as I am not qualified to make that judgment. Certainly, without over-lamination, it is not a durable surface at all. Could this be a less expensive way to produce metal prints, yes, but in no way will it be comparable to a Dye Sublimated metal print. Without over-lamination the print appears similar to an enhanced matte print.

Note: Breathing Color has a Dye Sublimation metal product in the works, but it appears that it is not close to shipping yet. It will be interesting to see how it fairs against the leader of the Dye Sublimation metal medium Chromaluxe.

Also note: I am the owner of Metal Mouth Prints, a producer of Dye Sublimation metal prints on Chromaluxe. I certainly went into this with a negative perception, but I also wanted to potentially find a different process that could produce high quality results at a lower price point than my companies Dye Sublimated metal prints. So far, that is not the result.