Re: Art Prints

[Dan Culbertson <danculb@concentric.net>]

Eric wrote:
>I am a fledgeling artist who lives in the Twin Cities.  I have been told that
>prints of my artwork would probably sell.  I am interested in making these
>prints myself.  I have tried many ways of making these myself in the past,
>but it was only in the last tow weeks that I heard of micro piezo technology.
> It would seem to me that this is what I want.  I have a Mirage IIse scanner
>that scans 11X17 images now, but I need a printer (the best I have ever used
>was an HP 1120).  What kind of printer would the list suggest to me.  I have
>found an Epson 3000 refurbished for 899.99.  Is this what I want?  My work is
>mostly pen and ink and pencil.

Hello Eric.  Luck with your art!
If you work a lot in pastel colors you might find the light color dithering
on the 3000 not quite up to your needs. Tends to lose detail in the
highlights due to the distance between the ink spots.  In midtones it will
print fine though and if you do not typically rely on highlight detail it
may also be fine - especially if you print on textured art paper which
masks detail anyway.  I had one 3000 set up as a light CMY printer (using
the MIS light photo inks and a diluted yellow) for a while which did a
great job on pastels but that requires some special skills and ink sets (if
you want info on how to do this email me off line).

However, if you are not going to print larger than 11 x 14 try the PhotoEX
(if you can still find one).  It uses the light photo inks along with the
standard inks and should be fine for everything from pastel on to deeper
toned art.  But whatever printer you select you will have to bite the
bullet and learn about archival ink sets (check out the list archive for
info and Joseph Yates' site for sources).  You won't want to sell prints
made with standard Epson inks as museum quality since they fade quite
rapidly.  Okay for poster sales though, especially if you laminate them.

As for newer printers, the Stylus 1200 may be your best bet but there are
not yet compatible cartridges for archival inks (from what I've read on the
list - I only have 3000s and a Stylus Photo).  It has a much better way of
laying down ink droplets in the light areas than the 3000 so it should work
much better for pastel areas in a piece of art work.

Dan Culbertson




-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Please: Stay on topic. Trim quoted messages.
http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions.