Paul,
Since neutral tone prints seem to be desired by inkjet printers It is somewhat surprising to me that none of the ink suppliers for inkjet printing market the more neutral Lampblack (PBk 6). In carbon transfer printing we use this pigment for neutral tone (or slightly bluish black) prints. Lamp black is a variant of Carbon Black (PBk 7) that is very stable and unaffected by light, acids and alkalis. Some types of PBk 6 may have a brownish black tone similar to PBk7, but the bluish black is more common.
Sandy
There is no carbon ink I know of that is the same as or as neutral as the old, original Eboni MK and it's dilutions. Eboni 1.1 is said to be the same carbon grind, but with a state of the art dispersant. That may be true, but the new dispersant made it more like the other MK inks. It's still slightly more neutral that the others I tested, but there is a reason I added the light blue toner. I concluded it was still the best place to start.Inkjet carbon (i.e., carbon that is finely ground) is warm by nature, except when it's at the 100% black point. On inkjet paper (coated paper) it's warmer than when on a paper like Arches. Glossy carbon is warmer than matte carbon. And when glossy carbon is on glossy inkjet paper, it's very warm. I, too, have found no way to make a neutral glossy 100% carbon print. The good news is that with the Canon based light blue toner, the print can be more stable than a silver print.
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Re: [Digital BW] New process, new ink, new printer?
2017-01-13 by Paul Roark
Sandy,
I'm not sure if there is a different form of carbon that can be prepared for inkjets and be as neutral or cool as some of the carbon pigments that are available for other, non-inkjet purposes. On the other hand, since the OEMs don't use such a pigment, I'd guess there is no practical, more neutral carbon pigment for inkjets.
One apparent factor in the warmth of the carbon is the size of the particle. It may be that some of the carbons that watercolorists use that are neutral or cool are composed of particles that are much too large for inkjets.
It may also be that in order to stay in suspension lighter forms of carbon are needed, and maybe these forms are warmer.
I use only pigments that are already prepared for inkjet use. Moreover, from the perspective of the founder of MIS, when we looked at a potential pigment I'd found that made a single-color carbon offset, the volume we'd use in the B&W niche was too small to be economical. So, as a practical matter, our little niche is stuck with using pigments that are being prepared and used for the color market.
If someone knows of an inkjet carbon pigment that is neutral or cool *when diluted* (they are all relatively neutral at 100%) I would be very interested. Again, however, I would guess that if such a carbon existed, Epson, Canon and HP would use it.
Paul
On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 8:01 AM, ssanking@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote: