Re: ink jet neg substrate

Mark,
I am not too scientific on this but I have noticed absolutely no puddling on
any of the substrates, as long as you print on the correct side. :) As far
as drying time, I literally print out and immediately expose, so I don't
wait 15 minutes if I can help it, for the neg to dry as sometimes I see
suggested. No difference in b+f in practice because I expose all at 4
minutes under UVBL. Every neg, every RGB separation, every YMB color
pigment. I have been experimenting with doubling my pigment this week, and
I am finding that I have to expose my final layer a tad longer if I want to
spray develop. I am beginning to beg to differ that blue prints quicker
than red. As the saying goes, "Not in my practice".

If I were to say there was any difference in dot gain, I would say the Photo
Warehouse may be like, what do you call it, 0 dot gain? But I don't notice
an ounce of dot gain on any of it, but it is not under a microscope. In
practice, no dif in sharpness between all. But this is gum, not platinum.

If I ruin a neg I'll scratch it for you; otherwise, I avoid scratching my
negs, just my eyes out lately, gum printing day and night. I have never
noticed a scratch on any of them. But after I'm done, I put each into a
sleeve in a notebook to protect.

Nighty-night,
Chris

>>Did you notice any difference in dot gain, puddling, drying time between
the
substrates?

Any difference in base + fog when printing?

Resistance to scratching?

Usually the films have an emulsion side to take the ink and wetting it will
make it show easily, as you did.

Thanks for the great rundown!

Mark Nelson

In a message dated 4/2/04 8:54:53 AM, zphoto@bellsouth.net writes:

> Hi all,
> Just wanted to share the following with those unknowledgeable ink jet
> neg enthusiasts (not the big wigs, like hehehe Mark and Kerik, etc). I
have
> been printing gum negs since summer, both on a cheapy Epson printer and
then
> on an Epson 2200 (which for me is a dream come true). I have found this as
> far as substrates go: anything I get at Office Max or Staples or Walmart
> (gasp) that says ink jet on it and mentions Epson, works. I have tried 3M,
> Staples brand, Apollo, and other names I no longer remember, but for gum
> they are all just fine. The only problem, of course, is they are all
8.5x11.
> Apparently the business market doesn't want large overhead projections...
> I ordered Photo Warehouse ink jet film sheets that are cut 11x17, and
> they work great, too. One caution: a lot of the Office Max/Staples brands
> have a bumpy side on which you print, and this is easily discernible. The
> bumps make no mind on your prints, of course, but you always can tell the
> printable side.
> Photo Warehouse is smooth on each side. I thought side didn't matter,
> and I did not have any indication of a printable side in the box. One day
> my printer was acting up, leaving streaks of messy ink all over, and I
> thought the 2200 was finally rejecting me because of all the work I put it
> thru.
> Then I got smart, and licked a finger; there is a printable side, and
> it is stickier to a wet finger. No more problems. But I guess most on this
> list already know this or it has already been reported, so maybe not
> helpful. For me, I just had to learn the hard way.
> BTW, Photo Warehouse 11x17 is about 80 cents a sheet.
> One last thing: whenever I would get these little microlines that run
> parallel with the printer feed slot, micro lines so small you can barely
see
> them, but the gum process unfortunately prints them (so much for "can't
> resolve fine detail"), that when I cleaned the print heads right before I
> began a negative printing session, the lines disappeared. I also made sure
> ink was not low in any of the cartridges.
> Bye!
> Chris
>
Received on Fri Apr 2 23:44:33 2004