Ink jet or giclée printing of gallery quality work has two problems.
One, is that the inks tend to fade with time and there are small pin
holes on the paper where the ink jet misses. Dye Sublimation printing
is a printing process which utilizes special dyes. These dyes are on
tape cartridges and are transferred onto various substrates ( paper,
cloth, ceramics ) using heat transfer. The heat expands the molecules
of the substrate and changes the dyes into a vapor which penetrate the
material. Through this process the graphic actually becomes part of
the substrate. Dye sublimation paper and cartridges are expensive (
at this time about $3 a picture ) and personal dye sub printers at the
moment can only handle 8 1/2 by 11 inch maximum paper. Personal Ink
Jets are changing also with special archival inks, paper that allows
the ink to spread, and larger printing surfaces. I use an Alps
5000 Dye Sublimation Printer and am very happy with the quality.
Rumor has it that a larger format printer is on the way.
OK, now I've purchased an Epson 1280. Printing 12" x 18"
on watercolor paper. The Alps is still nice but the company stopped
improving and changing the printer. Typical of what happens while ink
jet technology marches on. I noticed problems with dynamic range on
the Alps, especially as my prints got finer. Now I feel a direct connection
from what I see to what gets put on paper.
Wilhelm
Imaging Research - research papers on digital printer ink and
paper quality and life time
Digital
Art Supplies
