paulmwhiting...wrote:
... are we saying then that this mottling above the ink limit doesn't matter?
Yes, that is my view. On some papers it starts very early. Note that with Arches, I use an ink limit of 25 for the dilute inks and 75 for the K. On some printers the K is all the way up to 100. It's the mottling that is the limiting factor here due to the internal gelatin sizing, yet for the darkest end, the mottling is hidden, so I can pour the ink on and have the density be the limiting factor.
Arches is an un-coated and extreme example, but EEM, in my experience, is a coated paper that is infamous for mottling way below where the inks reach their density maximum.
That make sense... but why didn't I get this after my first setup with Eboni6? It seems to be the mottling started after I topped off the yellow cart with a fresh batch of that 2% dilution.
That could, indeed, raise a different issue.
I'd look carefully at the dilution base. The surfactant mix ("cocktail" -- which ones and how much) is a major factor. Note that with the generic base mixes I leaned toward availability of ingredients and safety. You'll note, for example, that they use propylene glycol (in the Photo Flo 200 - consumer version) as opposed to the ethylene
glycol that is in the professional Photo Flo 600 or diethylene glycol that is even better and in many inks. But with a chemist brother who died at age 59 due to his exposure to organic chemicals, I'm a bit sensitive to the safety issue.
Let me know if the new mix works better.
Also, remind my what paper you're using.
Paul