Re: Inkjet negs: Pigment vs. Dye, etc.

[Keith Gerling <keith.gerling@gmail.com>]

Thanks.  I had already found that article, and I really DO intend to try Mark's system this winter.  Honest!  

Lately I've been making prints with lith negatives that I buried last year in the back yard under a foot of Illinois's finest black topsoil.  Various organisms have eaten away at the gelatin and the negs look really nice.  The prints look pretty bad though.  Maybe I should have used a "tighter" approach when I made these negatives!

Keith

On Nov 29, 2007 1:08 PM, Don Bryant <dsbryant@bellsouth.net> wrote:

Keith,

 

Opps, I gave the wrong link for Keith Schrieber's digital pyro article, here is the correct one:

 

http://web.mac.com/j.k.schreiber/JKSchreiber/Articles/Entries/2007/6/15_Pyro_Colorized_Digital_Negatives_for_the_Epson_1280.html

 

This article is targeted to toward the Epson 1280 but the same method can be used for other printers. Of course other digital methods for producing digital negatives can be used such as Mark Nelson's PDN system or the Reeder/Hinkel method using QTR. But these are approaches are rather technical and as I recall you prefer a looser non regimented approach to your workflow so these methods may not appeal to you.

 

Don Bryant

   

 

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From: Keith Gerling [mailto:keith.gerling@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:40 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Inkjet negs: Pigment vs. Dye, etc.

 

I've recently been given an Epson 7600 printer.  It needs ink, and Epson ink isn't cheap, and I'm pondering how I can use this monster to make big negatives for gum prints.  I've been way out of circulation on the topic of inkjet negatives, only just recently having hooked up an Epson 1280 to make my first paper negatives in about 8 years, so I'm pretty clueless about how to proceed.  Maybe someone here can steer me in the right direction regarding this 7600. 

My goal is to use this 7600 to make paper inkjet negatives.  The 7600 uses Ultrachrome inks, which I gather is an archival pigment-based ink.  So I'm wondering:

1) Can one make usable paper negatives using pigment inks?  Are dye-based inks better?  (Here let me insert my own hunch, limited in scope by my never having used pigment inks:  I'm assuming that dye, which will sink into the paper rather than sitting on the surface would make a better inkjet neg)

2) I'm told that Epson pigment-ink printers can never be switched over to dye-based inks.  Is this true?  Seeing as how re-fillable cartridges are still available, would the printer really "care" what liquid is coursing through its mechanism?  Keep in mind, I'm not looking for archival-ness or "print-perfection", just a way of producing something that will block light.

3)  Any thoughts on what paper to use?  I've seen some pretty good prices and paper rolls (here, for instance:  http://www.freedompaper.com/s.nl/it.I/id.34/.f ) but I have no idea whether this kind of paper is appropriate for dye OR pigment.  It is really difficult to glean any kind of information on-line or from vendors, because the topic of producing inkjet negatives is so different from the "fine-art print" that this machine was intended for.

Thanks!

Keith