Hi all,
My surface of choice is an ACM panel (lightly sanded and with an acrylic clear gesso applied). However they can be a bit expensive for more experimental or practice works. Or when a painting goes wrong!
So I have been looking into synthetic papers and after looking at a selection of samples I tried a small sheet of PICOFILM from SIHL. It worked so well I ordered some larger sheets to do a painting on, which came out really well. It’s basically white PET-G with a very matt primer which gives the the very slightly coarse feel of paper.
Here are the details of the surface from their technical sheets:
https://www.sihl.com/en/products/picofilm-p-125-m2/7831_picofilm-p-125-m2_picofilm.pdf
PICOFILM P-125 M2 matt
Synthetic matt paper. Ideal for waterproof and tear-resistant loop-locks, hang tags, weatherproof hiking maps, race numbers, menus, hard-wearing handbooks, booklets and brochures.
PICOFILM P-125 M2 is a white polyester film coated both sides with a matt primer. It is weather-resistant, chemical-resistant, temperature-resistant and dimensionally stable. It can be cut, punched, perforated and drilled without issue. It’s also suitable for hot foil stamping and laser cutting.
The high-quality coated film surfaces offer optimized feed properties and printing results. The slightly coarse surface, which is specially developed for laser printing, has an anti-static effect and prevents double-feeding. Suitable for monochrome and fullcolour laser printing, and for UV flexo and conventional offset pre-printing with oxidative drying inks. With fast ink drying, ideal ink adhesion and toner fusing. Can be stamped easily and lettered manually.
Advantages
Waterproof
High tear resistance
Weather-resistant
Chemical-resistant
Temperature-resistant
Excellent ink adhesion and toner fusing
The surface is very matt, even more than a white polyester coil coated matt ACM panel. It has a slightly rough feeling like paper or ultra fine sandpaper. The primer can be easily scratched off with a fingernail, but otherwise is a perfectly level and even surface (more than can be achieved using acrylic paint)
I applied two coats of clear gesso and it didn’t buckle or warp as even heavyweight paper does. When I tested water paints and oil paints on an untreated surface I saw some absorbtion but absolutely no warping or cockling.
The oil paints developed the familiar oil ring of an absorbent surface after some hours and the paints did dry quicker (but still took several days or longer to dry).
Adhering the paper to a board is a bit tricky because both the surfaces of paper and ACM panel are plastic I’ve found Golden Acrylic Gel and PVA glue do not seem to dry (even though there seems a bond). They still appear wet when pulled apart after several days.
I’m currently testing out some Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (spray, tape and pot based) but I am seeing some distortion of the thin paper (bubbling underneath) from the glues – possibly from the solvents, so going to try leaving them to dry more thoroughly before bonding. There are also thicker grades of PICOFILM available, but don’t know how much that would help.
I tested out sticking the PICOFILM paper to a paper mountboard from Daler Rowney with PVA glue and the bond was so strong then when I tried to remove the PICOFILM it was pulling off layers of the mountboard until the PICOFILM inself ripped when I used great force.
So, my concerns are:
If the primer is mechanically stable enough to be used with oil paints without some additional gesso or primer.
Is the primer going to react negatively with the oil paint.
Can I adhere it to a rigid surface without visible bubbles from the glue appearing and getting it to form a suitable bond.
I like the surface and it works out very cheap compared to thick normal papers (which still need stretching), or canvas/linen.
I have been in touch with SIHL who produce the paper and they’ve not heard of anyone using it with oil paints before. They are keen to know my experiences with using it and have sent me more samples.
I wondered if you had any thoughts, or any experience with artwork on these new synthetic substrates?
Thank you for your help,
Richard
Thank you both. What about if the surface was primed with a couple of layers of gesso? Do you think that would help?
Sounds like it’s not going to work as I hoped. As always, thank you Brian for your expertise!
Actually just had a thought.. The surface seems very absorbent for Oils and I use an oil rich medium so I can see large oil range around the painted areas. So it seems likely to me that all the primer has been saturated with the amount of oil absorbed.
Wonder if this oil absorbtion will cause a stronger bond to form in the primer (holding it more together), and also from the primer to the PETG underneath?
That the primer scratches off easily makes me think there might possibly be issues with mediums and coatings that shrink, because those can sometimes lift weakly attached layers beneath. Also, I would want to investigate whether decomposition products might release over time from either the film or primer.
Thanks Matthew,
I totally agree, beyond all of the unknowns here, the material should be avoided if the ground/coating can be so easily scratched off. Most likely delamination would occur at a later date if painted on this surface.
I worry that if you added an additional ground that the delamination would still occur between the substrate and the original “ground”. In general, adding additional layers seldomly solves potential delamination issues with lower layers unless they are applied so diluted that they serve as a consolidant. It may be possible to consolidate the existing ground with a saturating material like a very dilute acrylic dispersion medium or a thinned alkyd medium but this would completely change the absorbent nature of the substrate that you admired, likely making it indistinguishable for more common painting substrates. I would do a bunch of tests of both the “virgin” material and various additional grounds and “consolidant(s)” before using this substrate for serious work.
This relates to my comments about consolidation. As always, you really need to do some tests and let them dry to see if the adhesion is improved enough to make a stable substrate. I also wonder if you see see tide lines of oil surrounding your paint if these will not become visibly yellow overtime.
Reallly, I do not wonder…I predict yellowing.
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