U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | RE: Banding w/ 2200 + thanks for the Biennial

RE: Banding w/ 2200 + thanks for the Biennial



Hi Loris -

My hat's off to IFSAK for organizing such a comprehensive biennial - and my
participation in it is certainly a high-water mark in my artistic career.
Friends and acquaintances I met in Istanbul continue to send me links to
websites and I'm impressed with what is going on there creatively.  With
your photographic eye, combined with your new-found curatorial skills, I'd
say you are well-positioned to take the world by storm!  Please keep a fire
under those gum workshop participants.  I expect to see complete portfolios
when I return!

I'm glad you are having luck with the new primer option.  I found that using
Yupo I was able to use far less gelatin/CaCO3 than I previously thought, but
then again before I was only coating aluminum and needed a brighter white.
I'm still not very fond of the slick look of Yupo. I've coated a couple of
sheets of Tyvek (a Dupont product used as a moisture/wind barrier in
housbuilding like here:
http://www.grisak.com/Buying%20a%20home%20pages/Buying%20a%20New%20Construct
ion%20Home/Tyvek%20House%20Wrap.JPG  It's thin, so it is kind of hard to
handle, but I like the texture better than Yupo.

I'm still undecided on the inkjet option.  I'm looking around for a
throw-away printer so I can test it with cheap ink and paper.  I figure that
print size isn't all that important because I can just tape the paper
together to get the big negatives I like.  On the other hand, I was just
given several large rolls of 30 year-old lith film AND winter is upon us, so
another couple of months spent in the darkroom is likely in my future.

Next week I try CURVES with film recorder positives enlarges to lith film.
Now, I'm preparing for a meze/raki party this weekend.  I'm even making
manti!  I realize manti is not really meze, but I had to figure out
something to do with the bag of sumac that I brought back stashed in my bags
amongst the powdered gum and sodium metabisulphate.  My only regret is that
I didn't bring home a nargile setup.  Those things are more expensive here
than I had imagined!

Later,

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: Loris Medici [mailto:mail@loris.medici.name]
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 12:24 AM
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: RE: Banding w/ 2200 + thanks for the Biennial


Hi Keith,

I have both 1160 and 1290 and never had banding / drying up... only
occasional need of cleaning cycles. I learned that if the printer
doesn't give you a good nozzle check after the second cleaning cycle,
you just have to turn it off, wait 5-10 mins, turn it on and print a
nozzle check again - to see it's perfect! The problem with too many
consecutive cleaning cycles is that they will often cause bubling inside
the cart = more problems. Patience is the key ;) Also having a too dry
climate is no good for Epsons. Istanbul is quite humid most of the time
- indoor RH in my hause is usually between 40-65%... (outdoors RH can go
up to 98%!)

We used Pictorico digital negatives made w/ a 1290 in Sandy's workshop
in Istanbul - the printer didn't cause any problems while printing 11
negatives consecutively... (I did a separate nozzle check before every
negative - to be on the safe side - and I had no problems)

You can check for 1280's if they're still selling them (it's still a
current model in Europe), the price was around $250-300 (after rebate,
free shipping) which is quite good for a good A3+ digital negatives
printer! And I just ordered 3rd party ink (locally) for only $8.35 per
cart which is a pretty good price I think - so good that I'm ready to
recalibrate for the new ink!

And since this so-called venetian blinds effect are only seen in
smoothest highlights which are very hard to print with gum - as you told
us - at the same time, this is a non-issue for you unless you want to do
Pt/Pd at the same time. (I would like to remind you that I do print
Pt/Pd with my 1290 without problems - and I'm pretty confident that
they're quite good technically / ask Sandy ;))

BTW, the gelatine / CaCO3 primer works better than plain acrylic gesso +
gelatine on Yupo - will post few test prints soon! Results are promising
- I just have to improve my coating technique in order to achieve a
smoother and more even primer layer. Thank you very much for mentioning
this! Will send you one of my first sucessful prints on Yupo soon -
hopefully ... But since I can be quite perfectionist sometimes, this may
not occur very soon... ;)

Also, I would like to thank again Keith, Sandy and Galina for
participating our (IFSAK) first International Biennial of Photography in
Istanbul. I'm very proud (as a "extremely-amateur-one-time" curator)
that these alt. process exhibitions (including Michal Macku's) and
workshops were among the most well received events of the Biennial.

Best regards,
Loris.