RE: New Epson printer

Luis Nadeau (nadeaul@nbnet.nb.ca)
Sun, 08 Jun 1997 14:55:11 -0300

At 2:42 PM +0200 97/06/08, Philippe Moroux wrote:
>(from Luis)
>>You will notice that words like "permanent", "long lasting" and "preserve
>>your memories with our prints" are absent from their literature. In fact, I
>>wonder if paper negs made from such a printer would last long enough to
>>make a run of say, 20 platinum prints under a hot UV source.
>
>In fact, I wonder if paper negs made from such a printer would last long
>enough to
>a ray of sun. ;-)
>
>For the "Nederland Naarden Fotofestival" under our pale sun of May, 12 of
>our students made wax-prints (jet technology). One was hanging outside as
>a poster

I think you are referring to "thermal wax transfer". Heat from a printhead
melts the colored wax from the transfer ribbon and fuses it onto coated
paper. This is not to be confused with ink-jet technology.

>(130x180cm). After two weeks this plastic laminated wax print was
>seriously fading.

When looking at how a print was made it is important to note (1) the brand
name, (2) the technology used and (3) if possible, the type of inks used.
Several manufacturers claim to use (sometimes optional) UV resistant inks
and add a UV protective layer on top of the final print as part of the
laminating process.

LaserMaster and others claim lightfast results with some of their products.

>For the same exhibition I printed a couple of invitations with my HP
>inkjet on watercolor paper. It looks great. One of those invitations
>stayed 3 weeks in my car (sur la planche à chapeaux). The same thing
>happened.

I read somewhere that HP will have archival inks by this coming fall.

Luis Nadeau
NADEAUL@NBNET.NB.CA
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
http://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/nadeaul/