Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Zinn" <AZinn@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] making brown ink


> At 10:20 AM 3/17/2002 -0800, you wrote:
> >Alan,
> >
> >One of the interesting things to do is to go into the Photoshop custom
color
> >mixer, find a brown you like and look at the CYM and luminance numbers.
It
> >appears like you could get a nice chocolate brown with just Y and M with
the
> >appropriate amount of neutral black.
> >
> >I have been playing with the Sepia-VM set and you can get some rather
nice
> >browns with this, so you might want to check this out before you start
> >mixing your own.
> >
> >As time permits I want to play with this by adjusting the amount and
ratio
> >of Y and M in the toner position ink. One thing Paul has cautioned me
about
> >is that the inks don't go together in a tidy, linear fashion and quite a
bit
> >of trial and error may be required. If several of us work on different
> >approaches we should come up with a wonderful array of choices. Anything
I
> >discover, good or bad, I will post.
> >
> >Martin
> >
> >
>,
>
> Good thinking, it would save wasting ink. My experience with water color
> will help some. I am using a 980 printer for b/w now and don't know if
1160
> sepia-VM curves apply to it.

Allen,

The Sepia-VM uses the same curves as the regular VM. They need some tweaking
but are good enough to get started.
>
> I wish someone knowledgeable about litho inks could instruct us on their
> alchemy.  My friends doing intaglio and other fine art printing go merrily
> about their way with any color in the rainbow without all the fuss we are
> saddled with. I'm tempted to get a can of brown ink and some MIS base and
> just go for it.

Three issues with this. If the particle size of the brown ink is too big you
will clog your printer's head, perhaps permanently. The ink may not be
chemically compatible with the MIS clear base so mix and let stand a few
days before you put it in your printer. As Paul said earlier the difficult
will be to get not just the right color but the right densities. You can do
this but it will probably take you several trials.

I would really recommend you start with blending MIS K,C.Y and M inks to
find a brown you like (you should be able to match any color) and start from
there. That would at least remove the particle and chemical issues.

Martin Wesley