Printing on Watercolour Paper

martin0reg said:

I reanimated an old R800 and after printing two weeks only with compatible dye ink, because it is a clogging machine, and after cleaning the purge pad etc. - I finally switched back to a pigment ink set. Not the cheapest, from marrutt/lyson, results are good so far.

So I tried the non coated aquarelle paper in this printer. ("guardi artistico aquarello" from boesner, 250g, stiff and textured)

And to my surprise the d-max is much better, deeper blacks than with the pro3880 on art paper! I profiled the paper both in 3880 and 800, the blacks and therefor the over all contrast remain deeper, better with the old r800.
See both prints side by side... you can darken the print - but you won't get a deeper black of the black areas:
View attachment 3542

My explanation for the moment: it's the MATTE black which makes deep blacks on matte and on uncoated paper, not the photo black. And the r800 only has one MK channel beside the PK, no LK and LLK. Which both are "photo inks", no "matte LK/LLK",
So these 3K channels of 3880 could weaken the black on matte uncoated paper... The old r800 having only one black channel might spray more of MK on the paper than the 3K printer...?!
I'm just speculating... see the prints..

Click to expand...

This is an interesting thought....do they come into play when using matt paper? or does the driver only use them when using "photo ink settings" ???

If indeed it is used, substituting MK may be the go ........in some cases. However thinking as I write, is it not possible that substitution could cause a loss of lighter shades of black to grey?

To be honest my finding supports jtoolman, in that the Krylon does have the effect of 'maturing' the darker tones in my prints. You may remember my image of the Uluru pool that was a deep red with shades of blue and turquoise.........The plain print is good, but spraying made it a few shades darker...that was easily solved by manipulating following prints to compensate, I still got the richness in the Black that I favoured.

Yes, a sort of varnish can help too. But like with ink there are different coatings and different papers.
Some time ago I was not satisfied with my first varnishing spray, almost no effect on 200g drawing paper after drying time.
This week I tried another varnish "Ghiant inkjet fixative spray / satin", probably containing more solvents.
Here are two prints both with epson K3 on uncoated aquarell art paper - one with a spray coating which deepens the black clearly; and which adds a slight satin shine to the texture of the paper.


Beside the "guardi" I tried also the "canson aquarelle 300g", which for me has the nicer texture. But the guardi seems to print out a little smoother on my printers.


Both are reasonably priced, much cheaper than the very expensive fine art photo papers. I actually like the texture of some "velvet" FA papers very much, but I won't pay 2€ or more for one A4 sheet...

When you print with pigment ink on uncaoted art paper, matte black is mandatory.
But you can try it with a dye ink set too! I did some prints with fuji DL ink on this kind of paper and results were similar to pigment regarding d-max. But there was another issue: strange artifacts on some paper with some printers...

So the results depend on the properties of the fiber: some aquarelle paper is described as "short fiber", what probably is to limit the "spreading" of the water color while painting. Besides it is sometimes described as "sized" - which means a kind of glue is applied on one or both siides of the sheet. And it depends on how the ink interacts with a certain fiber.


PS: the look of the satin inkjet spray depends also on the original texture, how grainy or smooth it is ... soemtimes pleasing me sometimes not...
I think for small prints it's too much hassle, for big prints be careful not to spoil it.
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PPS: Regarding the cost of a fine art print:

- guardi artistico 250g, "rau" = textured (boesner) is the cheapest, 50 sheets 24x30 = 15€
And it is available up to 50x65, bigger than A2+ !
- canson aquarelle XL (which jtoolman presents in a video) is reasonable too,
30 x A4 10€, 30x A3 16€, bigger sizes I don't find in german art stores

- canson "Arches Grain Fin" is not so cheap, 12 sheets 23x31cm 14€
- If it comes to photographic papers with inkjet coating, the most reasonable with a really nice texture for me is " Photolux Fine Art Velvet 270g", 25x A4 24€, up to A2 available

- But most well known fine art photo papers from brands like hahnemühle costs more than 2€ / A4, too much for me..

Whoever is using a R800: I found a non documented option for straight paper feeding.
While the uncoated art papers are often quite stiff and soemtimes will not go through the normal paper feed I tried to put it in the front feeder for the CD tray.
To my surprise the printe pulls the sheet as it was the tray and you can print all formats up to A4.
But the first print comes out rather "pittoresque" because the paper is much thinner than the original CD tray and so the "platen gap" between nozzle plate and paper is much too big (resulting in interesting "art effects" like spraying from a distance)
So I took 4 sheets of the aquarelle paper in a stack, which is about as thick as the CD tray, and it prints out fine! But I have to admit that it's a bit fiddly..
You may feed also card boards or even a metal plate into this abused CD feed.
Sadly it works only with A4, not smaller...same as the front feed of the 3880.

I have and it has no effect. Sparying after printing does a better job in bringing out a bit more D max and color saturation.
I have to state that I am using OCP K3 inks which are known for a very and I mean very deep blacks. At least in my situations. Do who knows if that is why I can do this. I tried on my recent R3000 with OEM inks and I do not get the same deep results I was getting with OCP on my 3800 ( well the now dead one )
Joe