Face Mounted Print or Direct Print?
Digital prints can be printed directly onto acrylic and glass sheets rather than mounting a print onto acrylic. However, there are a couple of important differences between face mounting paper prints to acrylic and printing directly to acrylic. At Gusha Pro we first print to a gloss media and then apply that print to the acrylic. We believe a better print is created as the media we use holds more ink than what can be adhered directly to glass. Richer colour, smooth tones and gradations, and better contrast is the result.
Direct to sheet printing is performed using 'flatbed' printers. However, reducing print imperfections from dust when printing on large flat bed printers becomes extremely difficult.
Finally, the edges of glass are greenish in colour whereas the edges of acrylic are completely colourless. What this also means for prints on glass is there may be a slight greenish cast over the print. In conventional picture framing it’s common to use the thinnest glass possible to save weight and cost but also to reduce this problem.
Museums and those wanting the best picture framing often choose acrylic rather than glass as it has superior clarity. Acrylic sheet is also half the weight of glass with five times the strength.
