A personalised print is rarely just a print. It is a wedding photograph, a new baby, a pet that has since died, or a family holiday turned into a canvas for a grandparent’s wall. Customers keep these items far longer than ordinary décor, and if the colours fade or the surface gets marked, the disappointment is personal. For photo gift businesses, protection is part of the promise.
Products where coating makes sense
- Photo canvases and canvas collages
- Personalised wall art, name prints and family trees
- Pet portraits and illustrated house prints
- Large-format photo prints sold frameless
- Printed fabric wall panels for nurseries and bedrooms
What the customer gets
Landor Liquid Lamination adds a protective layer that improves durability and lightfastness, so prints last longer. Its Colourjet solvent coating protects against water, chemicals and abrasion and contains integrated UV inhibitors against premature fading. In a home, that means a canvas in a sunny hallway holds its colour better, and a print can be dusted or gently wiped without lifting the ink. You can explain this simply on your product pages, without needing to quote numbers. Our guide to selling print protection has ideas on presenting it as an option or a standard feature.
Working at volume
Gift businesses peak sharply before Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Coating has to fit into a workflow that is already stretched, so it pays to plan ahead.
- Let prints dry fully before coating, especially heavily inked photographs.
- For canvas, coat before stretching where possible; see coating canvas before stretching.
- Allow space for coated work to dry before packing, so it does not stick to wrapping.
- If you are coating by hand at high volume, a liquid lamination machine may give more consistent results.
Claims to avoid
Personalised products are often bought for children’s rooms and as keepsakes, and customers may ask whether items are child-safe, food-safe or fire-rated. We do not make those claims for our coatings, and you should not make them on our behalf. If your product range needs them, check with the media manufacturer and your own product safety adviser. Avoid promising a specific number of years before fading, too; describe protection qualitatively.
Solvent coatings do not suit every substrate or ink, so test each product line, including any new canvas or paper you switch to during the year.
Running a photo gift business and weighing up how to add coating to production? Call 01252 624 411 or contact us online and we will talk you through the options.