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Printer, Paper, Canvas, and Ink |
David Berger PhotographyPrinter, Paper, Canvas, and Ink Printer To print my photographs, I use an Epson model 9600. This wide-format inkjet printer has been designed to produce extremely high quality photographic prints, and it does that very, very well. Some insist upon referring to inkjet printing as "giclee*," a pretentious affectation in my opinion; the term is from the French verb gicler, which means to spurt, and of course that is what an inkjet does. The image quality attainable with the 9600 and others in its class speaks for itself; fancy euphemisms are not needed. To achieve the best possible image, I operate the printer at its lowest speed and maximum "interweave" (the amount of overlap with each pass of the print head). With these settings, it takes approximately an hour to print four square feet, or about 2.7 hours to print one square meter. The largest print size I offer is 40"x40", which is just over one square meter. The printer can accept "media" up to 44" wide, both rolls and cut sheets. Media can be any of a wide variety of paper, as well as canvas, transparent film, vinyl, and a few other materials. I have selected one type of "Fine-Art" paper and one type of canvas. Three types of Ink are available, but only one type can be used with any one printer. That is, the type of ink to be used must be specified when the printer is ordered. I use the Epson "UltraChrome™" ink set, described in more detail below. Although many different types of paper are made for the 9600 and other wide format printers, I use only what is called "fine-art" paper, specifically Somerset® Velvet for Epson. This paper is made from acid-free, 100% "cotton rag." Acid-free is good because it means that the paper will not darken or become brittle with age. Properly framed (more about that below), a print made with this paper and the UltraChrome™ ink will retain its original appearance for more than 60 years, according to an independent company that measures this sort of thing**. One reason I chose Somerset® Velvet is that it has a very bright, neutral white finish, that gives me more vivid colors than others I have tried. Like many other Fine-Art papers, it has a textured matte surface. As such, it has none of the reflective glare, typical of glossy "photo" papers, which can easily obscure the image. The advantage with the Fine-Art paper is that the image will look good from any angle with almost any kind of lighting. To realize this advantage, of course, the glass in the frame must be at least a low-reflective type, and ideally anti-reflective. Somerset® Velvet is available in two thicknesses: 19 mil (0.019", 0.48 mm) and 36 mil (0.036", 0.91 mm). Typical book or printer paper (or typing paper, if you remember that far back) is only about 3 - 4 mils thick; conventional photographic paper (conventional meaning the kind that needs an enlarger and chemicals and a darkroom) is about 7 mils thick; and even the most extra-special premium photo paper for inkjet printers is usually just 10 mils thick. The 19 mil art paper comes on a roll, which can be 24", 36" or 44" wide (61, 91, or 112 cm). It does retain a slight curl after printing, but it will lay perfectly flat in a frame as long as at least one mat board covers the edges of the print. I leave a generous border on every print, at least 1" (2.5 cm) wide on the smallest prints and as much as 3" (7.5 cm) wide on larger ones, depending on the aspect ratio (width x height). The framer can always trim excess border material if necessary. The advantage of the roll paper is that it can be shipped, re-rolled, in a mailer tube. Shipping cost using a mailer tube is relatively low due to the light weight and compact size. One disadvantage of the thinner paper is that it is not quite as sturdy as the thicker material, so it must be handled with greater care, but once the print is safely framed this disadvantage disappears. The thicker material comes in cut sheets; it is very sturdy, but it cannot be rolled, so it must be shipped flat. For the prints themselves, I charge the same amount regardless of the paper thickness, but shipping charges for the 36 mil stock will tend to be higher. When I say that the sheet stock is more sturdy, I mean that it can support its own weight better. However, both versions of the fine-art paper must be treated very carefully. I always wear clean cotton gloves to handle both blank paper and finished prints, because skin oils will leave smudges that cannot be removed. Hold only at the edges, and never touch the printed image; although the ink is dry, the surface of the paper is delicate and can be scuffed quite easily. Support the paper so that it does not crease or fold. The best way is to hold it near two corners and let the other end hang. Alternatively, hold near the middle of two opposing edges, and let the middle sag slightly. Back to the roll paper: one other minor disadvantage is explained in the next few paragraphs. The explanation is a bit lengthy, but here goes: If you have already looked through some of my galleries, and have read the text that accompanies each of the large-size images, you may have seen a few that say something like "due to the large areas of solid black in this image, it is available only in canvas or the heavy sheet stock..." The reason is that, while the model 9600 printer does almost everything extremely well, it does have one characteristic that bears improvement. When media is fed through the printer, it is held against flat plastic and metal plates by means of a vacuum system. Several rows of small holes, equally spaced (about 1" apart) across the width of the printer, allow the vacuum to act on the media. The amount of vacuum can be adjusted for thinner or thicker media, or it can be turned off altogether. The cut sheets of Somerset® Velvet do not require any vacuum, so I turn it off when I use that material. For the roll paper, I use the highest vacuum setting to counteract the curl. A small amount of air will flow through the paper, because it is made of cotton fibers and it is not coated. The air flowing through the paper and into the vacuum holes causes the ink above the rows of holes to dry a tiny bit faster than the ink between them. For most images, this does not cause any problem at all, and the roll paper works perfectly well. However, a few images do contain large areas of solid black or color, which require more ink than usual. If a large amount of ink is applied over a large area, the differential drying caused by the air flow creates a slight but very noticeable and unacceptable ripple in the paper; this ripple does not go away, even after the ink has dried. For the few images that do contain large areas of solid color, I simply do not use the roll paper. In those cases, the heavy sheet stock produces perfectly satisfactory results because, if you recall, I do not use any vacuum with that paper. Canvas works well for all images, regardless of how much ink is applied. I do use the vacuum with canvas, but because it is tightly woven and coated, air cannot flow through it, and differential drying does not occur. Canvas [Return to top of page] Several companies make canvas for wide-format printers. Of those I have tried, I prefer the Epson brand product. As with the Somerset® Velvet paper, the Epson canvas has a neutral, bright white finish that renders colors very well. It is easy to cut, and stretches beautifully using conventional framing techniques. It can be rolled and unrolled very easily, and it can remain rolled more or less indefinitely without taking a permanent curl. Thus, prints on canvas are shipped in mailer tubes, at the same price as same-size prints on roll paper. For centuries, of course, artists have painted on canvas because of its light weight, durability, and longevity. Oil paint, applied in various thicknesses for artistic effect (texture, color depth, etc.), tends to obscure the weave of the fabric. For this type of artwork, the canvas must be stretched over a wooden frame before any paint is applied, and kept on this frame throughout its life; otherwise, the paint will crack easily if it is creased or rolled too tightly. With the inkjet process, only a very small amount of pigment is needed to produce even the maximum color saturation. The ink coating is so thin that it will never crack, and it has no noticeable effect on the texture of the canvas. For most people, this texture lends a special quality to the print that paper does not have; I have been asked many times whether a print on canvas is a painting or a photograph. Like the canvas for an oil painting, an inkjet print on canvas should be stretched (just slightly, and uniformly in both directions) and stapled to wooden "stretcher bars" so that it will remain taut and flat for display. As with prints on paper, I leave a generous un-printed border all around. The border material is wrapped around the stretcher bars and stapled to the wood. This inner frame is attached to the back side of the finished decorative frame, which should cover only a very small amount of the edges of the image. Any good quality frame shop should be able to do this very easily. Framed under glass (strongly recommended), and not exposed to direct sunlight, the image should retain its original quality for a century or more.** Unlike paper, the surface of the canvas is relatively tough and resistant to scuffing. Even so, both should be handled with the same care; I strongly recommend wearing clean cotton gloves when handling either paper or canvas. For both paper and canvas, in case any dust, lint, hair, or other such (dry) foreign object gets onto the print, gently remove it with a clean, dry, soft brush. If you try to remove the object by blowing on it, you might get a bit of, well, moisture on the print. If a small drop does get onto the print, DON'T TOUCH IT! Just allow it to dry by itself. Neither the ink nor the paper nor the canvas are waterproof, so the best practice is to keep all prints clean and dry. To increase the longevity of the image, some artists prefer to spray the finished print with a protective coating, both to block Ultraviolet radiation and to afford some protection from moisture. This coating can be applied to both canvas and paper, but I prefer not to use it for either one, because I am concerned that it might detract from the image quality. I do not say that this will happen, because in fact I have not yet tried this type of product. One day I may do so, to see whether or not my concern is justified. If I am satisfied with the results, I might then offer to coat prints in this way upon request, but I do not expect that I would adopt this as a standard practice. If someone were to apply such a product to a print after I have shipped it, I would not be responsible for the results. The Epson 9600 printer uses seven ink cartridges to achieve a very wide range (gamut) of both colors and gray tones, the latter including a good solid black. Like most printers, including both inkjet and "offset" types, all of the colors within the gamut are produced by mixing just four: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK, K for black). Offset printers have been around for more than a century, so there is nothing new about this, and just about everyone should know that pretty much any color can be made by mixing Red, Yellow, and Blue in the correct proportions. In addition to CMYK, the 9600 uses Light Black (gray), Light Magenta (pink), and Light Cyan (sky blue or "powder" blue if you like) to produce subtle in-between tones that would otherwise have to be printed as widely-scattered dots of the primary colors. Look closely at a picture produced by a "desktop" printer and you will see this. If you look closely at the same image printed on a 9600, you will not see the dots. As I mentioned in the "Printer" section, a few different types of ink are available. Inks made from chemical dyes are used in most desktop printers, but these inks fade rapidly and so are not used to produce fine art prints. The dye inks are relatively inexpensive, however, so they are used by preference for advertising posters and other commercial materials, such as trade show displays, that are often produced in small quantities on wide-format inkjet printers. The alternative is pigment based inks; like paint, these get their color from materials such as metal oxides (no, I don't know specifically what materials are used), ground very fine, that will not fade at all; or if they fade, they do so only very, very slowly. Each tiny particle of pigment is encapsulated by a thin coating of resin, which will adhere to the paper or other medium once it has been ejected by the print head. The longevity of the original image quality ("years before noticeable fading and/or changes in color balance occur")** will be more or less, depending on which medium is used, and under what conditions the print is displayed. To achieve the longest life, the print should be framed under glass and protected from Ultraviolet radiation. In that case, images printed on both Somerset® Velvet and Epson Canvas are expected to last more than 100 years. Even under the least favorable conditions, pigment based inkjet inks will maintain their original appearance for several decades. Although the image will last a lifetime or more if it is properly framed and displayed, it will not last a minute if it gets very wet. Above all else, never allow moisture to contact the printed image. A tiny drop of water, if left alone to dry, will leave a barely noticeable spot. However, a thimble-full of water (about 1cc) or less, if spilled on the print, will leave a large and distracting blotch, even if allowed to evaporate. The paper will swell and never return to its original condition, and quite likely the colors will run. Do not attempt to wash anything off of the print, even with plain water - you will just wash off the ink along with any foreign object or material. I do not mean to give the impression that these "fine art" prints are impossibly delicate, because they are not, but they must be treated with a certain amount of care. Consider that the same cautions would apply to many other types of artwork such as charcoal drawings or watercolor paintings, many types of delicate fabrics, or fine quality books, any of which would be ruined if not handled, stored, and displayed properly. Also, I should explain that while images on fine are paper and canvas are quite susceptible to damage from moisture, the same images on resin-coated "photo" papers are essentially impervious to water. I print my own business cards on Epson Premium Semi-matte Photo Paper, using some of my images as background. I tried to remove the ink from one of these; I succeeded only partially, even though I scrubbed aggressively with a wet sponge. I'm sure I could have removed all of it eventually, but I lost interest after a while. So, you may ask, why not use the photo paper? Answer: unlike the art paper and canvas, it is too thin, too shiny, and it looks funny to me when viewed at an angle, especially when there is a lot of ink next to no ink (blank paper).
*The "G" is pronounced as in rouge; the i has a long e sound; 'clee' is pronounced like clay [return] **Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. |