Sandy,

The page on Uline's website for 1" 3M 616 llithographers tape is here. http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_6413.asp?desc=3M+616+Lithographers+ Tape Uline's code for it is S-7857.

Keith.

Hi Keith. Thanks for the link.

BTW, I saw some of your beautiful color gum work at APIS in 2005. How are you producing your separation negatives? Imagesetter, inkjet or other?

Sandy King

Hi Keith. Thanks for the link.

BTW, I saw some of your beautiful color gum work at APIS in 2005. How are you producing your separation negatives? Imagesetter, inkjet or other?

Sandy King

Hi Sandy,

The gum prints of Cy's work that you saw at APIS were all imagesetter negs. At the time I had a local service bureau output them for me, but they sold their equipment and so now I'm working with Duane at Copygraphics and couldn't be happier.

Since Santa Fe in 2005 though, I've been working with a colour management guy who's created a profile for me for the gums. The RGB file is converted from the working space of Adobe RGB to my profile, the channels are split into three grayscale files and uploaded to Duane. This, combined with a profile for soft-proofing, really means I'm getting on paper what I see on my monitor.

For platinum and smaller gum prints I use inkjet negs - Epson 2200 and 4000.

Keith.

I have tried to print with my Epson 3800 with permajet transparcancy (Similar to Pictorico) but the ink keeps on pooling, have not been able to find a paper setting that stops this. There is no back light film or Ink jet Transparency setting in the European driver which i use for my Epson R220 or 1290.

I will keep trying various settings to see if I can solve this problem,there is an vast array of settings to control the timing of the head pass and ink etc.. which might help.

Has anyone been able to print using K3 inks on Pictorico or Permajet transparency?

Keith you mention Cy, is this Cy Decosse. I just spent an arm and a leg on getting a book on his work (http://www.artbooks.de/photo/21st-vol4-1.html). Does he use imagesetter negs for his platinum work?

I'm successfully using my Epson 3800 with Agfa Copyjet. I select the Premium Glossy paper option in the driver, and have had no problems at all.

I'm successfully using my Epson 3800 with Agfa Copyjet. I select the Premium Glossy paper option in the driver, and have had no problems at all.

Thats good news, what's the quality of Copyjet, similar to Pictorico? Are you getting any roller marks at all?

Thats good news, what's the quality of Copyjet, similar to Pictorico? Are you getting any roller marks at all?

It is supposed to be very similar to the Pictorico, but I haven't had the opportunity to compare them myself. It's certainly working pretty well for producing negs for pt/pd for me, and I haven't had any issues with roller marks.

It is supposed to be very similar to the Pictorico, but I haven't had the opportunity to compare them myself. It's certainly working pretty well for producing negs for pt/pd for me, and I haven't had any issues with roller marks.

Thanks David. Have you got any scans of your prints, would be nice to see some. What size are you printing and what method are you using to print out your negs, through photoshop or qtr ?

Thanks David. Have you got any scans of your prints, would be nice to see some. What size are you printing and what method are you using to print out your negs, through photoshop or qtr ?

No scans, sorry - I've only been experimenting with pt/pd for a month or two, and I'm still tweaking and testing my printing process. Sorting out my workflow for producing digi negs took the longest time, but I'm happy with them now - I ended up using an amalgam of the various methods discussed here and elsewhere to select a blocking colour and then handbuild a process curve. I'm printing 5x5 at the moment, but I'll probably go bigger once I'm more confident of my technique.

I find this surprising since I have a friend here locally that I visited last week that was able to make some beautiful negatives (though not perfectly curved) with his new 3800.

Are you using black only ink? You can reduce the amount of ink in the Epson driver.

Using QTR with the 2400 settings probably won't work well if at all since the print head technology is so much different.

I'm sure Roy will support the 3800 since this is such an astounding printer, IMO.

Don Bryant

Hi Don

Thanks for your input, I think i will have to tinker about with the settings of the 3800. I am using the photo gloss black with all the other cartridges enabled i.e. colour and two other blacks.
i got a good neg printed using the epson driver yesterday, i think, with semi gloss setting and decreased the head speed by about 1/2 second. I think it must be the permajet transparency film that is causing the problems. I shall see if i can get me a sample of the Agfa or Pictorico to see if this sorts the problem out. I am still a bit worried about the roller marks as it did leave a slight impression on one of the negs, this might just be my unit though.

Hi Don
I am still a bit worried about the roller marks as it did leave a slight impression on one of the negs, this might just be my unit though.
Dave,

The problem is due to the substrate, not the printer. If you can make inkjet prints with no marks then it is clearly a substrate problem. The same problem occurs on certain brands of inkjet paper, too.

Don Bryant

I have tried to print with my Epson 3800 with permajet transparcancy (Similar to Pictorico) but the ink keeps on pooling, have not been able to find a paper setting that stops this. There is no back light film or Ink jet Transparency setting in the European driver which i use for my Epson R220 or 1290.



Are you printing on the right side of the substrate? To make sure, give it the "lick 'n stick" test. The side to print on should be sticky to the touch after slight wetting.

Sandy

Hi Sandy

Yes I am using the right side thanks for checking :), I just tried using some Agfa Copyjet on the 3800 and it prints fine which is good news, however it will require me to recalibrate my timings for all my digi negs if i continue to use the printer for all my negative work as it seems the K3 inkset is quite different to the dye based ink set in my epson r220 and 1290. From initial tests i think the K3 inkset prints darker negs, the dither pattern seems superior but its difficult tell on the final print as at the moment i am just printing negs for Cyanotype prints so I dont think the dither pattern comes in to play as much as say printing Platinum on a higher resolution paper such as Arches Platine. I think i will have to conduct more tests!