Author Archive
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
By: Adam Hill
It seems like there has been a lot of discussion recently regarding UV inhibitors in post-print protective laminates (giclee varnish). While I am pleased to see the genuine concern for archival properties and longevity of giclee prints, I feel that the primary issue is being lost in the details. The question that giclee printing professionals should be asking is, how archival are my giclee prints? This is what printmakers really want to know and it cannot be answered simply by understanding how much and what types of UV inhibitors are present in their laminate of choice. In fact, in some cases, UV inhibitors can actually detract from the quality of an giclee print. Let me explain.
Many variables must be taken into consideration to accurately evaluate the longevity of your inkjet print. Printmakers must not only understand the archival properties of their ink, substrate, and laminate, but how these variables interact with each other. Even if you are using the most archival ink, the most archival canvas, and the most archival laminate, if these products have not been tested together, the compatibility, or lack thereof, could nullify the individual properties of each variable. In other words, the final giclee print may be less than the sum of its parts. Here of a couple of examples of how this can happen.
Suppose you are applying a very archival, solvent-based laminate with a substantial amount of UV inhibitors to a very archival water-resistant, matte inkjet canvas. Though individually both are archival, the matte inkjet canvas may be too absorbent to accept the solvent laminate, which results in micro-cracks on the surface or edges of your giclee print. These micro-cracks will cause the microporous canvas to absorb impurities in the atmosphere and oxidize, causing the giclee print to breakdown and degrade over time.
Suppose you are applying an archival water-based laminate with a substantial amount of UV inhibitors onto a giclee canvas which contains Optical Brightener Additives (OBA’s), as most inkjet canvases do. The idea here is that the UV inhibitors will prevent the OBA’s from firing by reducing the exposure to UV light. (OBA’s burn up and cause the inkjet canvas to return to its natural yellow color with prolonged exposure to UV light). This is a decent idea in theory; however, it presents an entirely new problem, metamerism. OBA’s use UV light to make a substrate appear brighter and whiter than it actually is. Without the presence of UV light, they cannot be activated. Therefore, by color correcting and printing an image under UV light, then applying a laminate containing UV inhibitors, the base white point and all of the colors on top will shift as the OBA’s are not being able to serve their purpose because the catalyst has been prevented by the laminate. Most experienced giclee printing professionals know that metamerism can cost time, money, and stress.
The only way to truly know if your giclee prints are archival is to have your final giclee print tested by an organization that has the ability to perform accelerated fade-testing (Fine Art Trade Guild, RIT, Wilhelm Research Institute, etc.) At Breathing Color we provide our customers with Archival Quality Certificates which certifies the longevity of our Chromata White Canvas with our Glamour II coating, and the most prominent OEM inks in the industry. This certificate uses 2 different methods and organizations to validate its promise. If you use our Chromata White Canvas, with our Glamour II coating with Epson, HP, Canon, or Roland aqueous OEM inks, your giclee print is certified archival. If you don’t use our products, you should demand this type of certification from the manufactures of the products you are using to make your inkjet prints. Unless the canvas, laminate, and ink have been tested together and certified, longevity cannot be accurately determined. And, given that the majority of inkjet canvas and fine art papers on the market have not been print permanence tested, you should assume they are not archival.
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
By: Adam Hill
I just returned home from exhibiting at the Imaging USA show in Phoenix, some of the best and most well-respected photographers attend this show. We had a 64″ Roland XJ (eco-solvent printer) in our booth, to show off the quality of our new line of archival, solvent canvas, PureG. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback we received, as this was the basically the first introduction of solvent printing technology into the high-end fine art photography community. We were not quite sure what to expect as solvent technology has historically gotten a bad rap among the most savvy giclee printing professionals and photographers (not too long ago, inkjet canvas did too). This show would be the first true test of changing this perception by demonstrating the recent technological advancements in solvent printers and canvas, in terms of print quality, longevity, and the containment of solvent odor, for the giclee art print. The advantages of solvent printing have never been disputed (lower production cost, faster production speed, no need for post-print laminate).
No one could believe the quality of giclee prints that were coming off of this machine, right there in our booth. The prints flowed onto the floor completely dry, with durable inks, ready to be stretched and sold. The very idea of being able to avoid the arduous and costly process of laminating giclee canvas, was enough to draw serious attention from all those who walked by. Some very prominent photographers even brought over their own images to more accurately evaluate the giclee print quality and were thoroughly impressed and excited when they saw the detail and density of familiar images. I saw smiles stretch across their faces as they vigorously tried to rub the freshly printed black ink onto the unprinted white canvas, and found that they couldn’t.
While solvent printers are still very expensive and will only be seriously considered by giclee printing professionals who are doing a fair amount of volume, one thing is clear…solvent technology is finally ready for prime time. I am now convinced that the quality is there, we have always known that the cost and time of production are significantly less than aqueous giclee printing, and now with our new line of OBA-Free, certified archival canvas…solvent technology offers a clear competitive advantage for the volume canvas giclee printing professional and deserves serious consideration.
Monday, June 15th, 2009
The day has come! The evolution of digital inkjet printing continues and has progressed with solvent in the art and photography market place. In the fine art market, the technological change from (aqueous) water to solvent based machines began at crawl speed around November 2008. Traditionally solvent ink-jet printers like Mimaki, HP, Seiko, Mutoh and Roland were adopted by sign shops to produce indoor-outdoor signage, banners, vehicle wraps and fleet graphics. Solvent technology gave businesses the needed durability for outdoor signage, added print speed and reduction in manufacturing costs. Now, virtually odorless solvent printers, such as the Roland XJ 570 and the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 are being used to produce high-end canvas prints at a quality level never thought. Breathing Color has been diligently testing for the last 12 months various solvent printing equipment and media. We recognized that with the right machine, inkjet media and icc profiles solvent printers are ready to cross over into our home turf. We’ve prepared ourselves through ample R&D to lead our customers in the right direction. Happy to say that were on the forefront, with a line of inkjet canvas and fine art paper to compliment. Did you see the Roland XJ540 at our booth at the Imaging USA trade show last week? The printer was spitting out fine art photographic prints that were jaw-dropping observers. They were the best giclee prints in the building. Remember here, remember now, Giclee printing will never be the same.
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Well, a recession begins, a year of time passes, and diversification is in the air as prevalent as the oxygen we breathe. Within our industry, it means that giclee printing companies are executing upon new strategies that leverage from their fine art giclee printing equipment, technology, and expertise. It seems like every day we are hearing about another giclee printing services firm expanding (from a services standpoint) from giclee art reproduction into the photos on canvas market.
The photos on canvas market is primarily online driven. Professional canvas prints are made available to professional photographers to reproduce their own work and for the general consumer looking to put photos to canvas (such as an amateur family photo). This market is now seeing an influx of competition from the traditional fine art giclee reproduction crowd.
The bottom line is that the “kill or be killed” mentality is hot and heavy these days. Let’s face it -most of these companies aren’t entering into the canvas photo market in order to expand – they are entering so that their giclee printing business in general will survive the economic storm. Such an entry will come with significant risk. In order to compete, these giclee printing companies must invest in a new and complex ecommerce website with special capabilities (and its going to cost a lot to compete with those who have been offerring photos on canvas for years). But having a website doesnt get you anywhere if nobody knows about it. Therefore, the canvas photo business model will require a substantial investment in consistent, aggressive advertising in order to drive traffic to the website. The advertising will compete amongst many others and better be compelling if any canvas prints are going to move. Furthermore, the current recession means that the market is shrinking.
Many entrepreneurs in general fall into the trap of thinking that its going to be easy to switch from one business model to another and suddenly its all going to make sense. To summarize – it aint going to be easy.
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
A lot of giclee printing professionals are curious about whether the presence of optical brightener additives in a giclee canvas matters to them. As the innovators of the world’s first white optical brightener free canvas, let us help explain our reasons behind the breakthrough technology.
What most people dont know is that optical brighteners are bleaches. These bleaches, which are also found in white t-shirts and other textiles and laundry detergents, absorb ultraviolet (UV) light and emit back visible blue light. They trick your eye into thinking that something is whiter than it really is. These bleaches only last so long, until the point that they actually burn out and no longer do anything. These bleaches are also harmful to the environment because when they are used in manufacturing, they are often found in domestic waste waters, and are toxic to fish and other animals.
Now let’s look from an art perspective. In terms of giclee, just imagine a valued fine art giclee piece where the bleaches have burned out of the inkjet receptive coating. What happens is the canvas becomes its natural color (which would appear as a yellow color to the eye), and the colors would shift. Now, the fine art print wont look as it was originally intended to look – and instead it will look yellow. Over time, this will happen to an inkjet canvas manufactured with optical brighteners whether it has been laminated with a giclee varnish or not (put a giclee print of this nature in direct sunlight for about one week and you will see for yourself). Is yellowing like this acceptable for the fine art market? In our opinion: Decor – Yes. Fine Art – No.
Then there’s the metamerism issue with the optical brighteners. Optical Brightners excaerbate the effects of metamerism. See, optical brighteners require UV in order to “fire”, or appear to our eyes. If there’s no UV exposure, the optical brighteners will not “fire” and the giclee print looks just as it would without optical brighteners – a more yellow color. Is color shifting like this acceptable for the fine art market? In our opinion: Decor – Yes. Fine Art – No.
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
We just finished exhibiting at the Imaging USA Trade Show in Phoenix Arizona, its always interesting to feel the real pulse of the economy at these shows. The response to our new products, especially our newest fine art paper Optica One, was fantastic.
But there’s no debate that the economy has taken a toll on business in general. Usual exhibitors that you would have found at the show in the past simply werent there at all. Attendance appeared to be down, and people were actively using the show to look for jobs. The companies who attended and exhibited clearly represented themselves as the strongest and healthiest companies out there. Photographers and other attendees who offer giclee printing or canvas prints appreciated our presence and we believe it makes a big difference. Anyone printing with the usual Epson Stylus Pro 9800, Epson Stylus Pro 7800, Epson Stylus Pro 4800, etc. or a Canon ipf9000, ipf9100, or an hp designjet z3100 certainly made out like bandits with us. Hec, discovering higher quality products at a better price is exactly what trade shows are for.
We officially launched our PureG products, the world’s first line of certified archival solvent media. Printing on the 64″ Roland XJ-540 solvent printer, our optical brightener free Urth™ solvent canvas prints were mind blowing. Customers couldnt believe they actually saw a solvent printer at a photography show (another innovative move in typical Breathing Color fashion  – but the quality we were able to demonstrate on the spot was awe inspiring
Friday, January 9th, 2009
Just a note on the Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printer. Despite the release of the Epson Stylus Pro 9880, the Epson Stylus Pro 11880, or other wide format printers from Canon and HP, these printers havn’t yet offerred enough to convince the majority of this base of users on this printer to upgrade. We guess the question is, in reality, how much better can the quality of prints get? Furthermore, will the increase in quality really make a difference for a giclee printing service business to the extent that they feel compelled to make the upgrade? This is the hurdle that wide format printer manufacturers have to cross whenever they release a new giclee printer into the market. Of course these newer inkjet printers make sense to those who have a need to purchase additional inkjet printers.
We are curious to see if and how the recent release of the Epson 9900 will change things. Will it be the “game changer” many have said it will be….but wait a minute….wasn’t that the pitch on the Epson 11880? The addition of a built-in specrophotometer (for on-the-fly icc profiles)on the Stylus Pro 9900 is certainly interesting and will benefit many…
We still find the Canon technology very interesting. Canon publishes a document that is backed by their legal department, stipulating that their giclee printers such as the Canon ipf9100 allow for at least 30% ink savings when compared to the Epson Stylus Pro series printers. This is big. All giclee reproduction houses should take this into account in their purchasing decisions. With arguably no difference in print quality between these two technologies, could Canon be the best kept hidden secret? All you have to do is ask those who own them. Then again, it wouldnt be a secret anymore would it….
Just a note on the Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printer. Despite the release of the Epson Stylus Pro 9880, the Epson Stylus Pro 11880, or other wide format printers from Canon and HP, these printers havn’t yet offerred enough to convince the majority of this base of users on this printer to upgrade. We guess the question is, in reality, how much better can the quality of prints get? Furthermore, will the increase in quality really make a difference for a giclee printing service business to the extent that they feel compelled to make the upgrade? This is the hurdle that wide format printer manufacturers have to cross whenever they release a new giclee printer into the market. Of course these newer inkjet printers make sense to those who have a need to purchase additional inkjet printers.
We are curious to see if and how the recent release of the Epson 9900 will change things. Will it be the “game changer” many have said it will be….but wait a minute….wasn’t that the pitch on the Epson 11880? The addition of a built-in specrophotometer (for on-the-fly icc profiles)on the Stylus Pro 9900 is certainly interesting and will benefit many…
We still find the Canon technology very interesting. Canon publishes a document that is backed by their legal department, stipulating that their giclee printers such as the Canon ipf9100 allow for at least 30% ink savings when compared to the Epson Stylus Pro series printers. This is big. All giclee reproduction houses should take this into account in their purchasing decisions. With arguably no difference in print quality between these two technologies, could Canon be the best kept hidden secret? All you have to do is ask those who own them. Then again, it wouldnt be a secret anymore would it….
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