Digital BW, The Print

Jerry, I can't help with cat questions, but I can tell you about my
workflow for b&w printmaking. The paper I'm using is Media Street's
"Generations ProPhoto Lustre" which is an RC paper with a microporous
ink receptor coating that holds a LOT of ink.

My ink set is formulated from Generations 3 and 4 materials; Gen4 for
the black for max density, and dilutions of Gen3 (pure pigment) black
tinted with tiny bits of Gen4 C+M for cold grays and M+Y for warm grays.
That these inks work with the lustre paper defies common practice, but
they do. The prints need to dry for 24 hours or so, and the surface
remains fragile. I frame and mat the prints behind glass.

I print in CMYK mode with a RIP that has very sophisiticated ink
controls, and I've calibrated the system with a spectrophotometer. I use
custom dot gain curves to preview the grayscale images, and custom
spectrophotometer-based CMYK profiles to preview the color separations
(they're b&w images, but the subtle color splits of the ink set are
important). I do 4 channel separations in Photoshop, using saved curves;
the RIP separates the Cc and Mm split-channels, but I've customized the
crossover curves the RIP uses for that, too.

It took me a couple years to make all this work. I don't talk about it
much at the gallery, lest I be banished as a terminal geek. <g> I have
not yet figured out a way to set other people up with my process; so
far, no one has been all that interested.

Richard Wolfson
Harvard, MA
richard at rwolfson dot com 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jerry Olson [mailto:jerryolson@...] 
> Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 12:12 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] digital b&w show in Boston gallery
> 
> 
> Richard, How did you get that deep black ink? Details !! I've 
> been looking for a deeper black ink since I began digital 
> printing 6 years ago. 
> 
> Jerry
> 
> Richard Wolfson wrote:
> > 
> > List members in the Boston area may be interested in a show of 17 
> > digitally printed b&w landscape photographs at the Depot Square 
> > Gallery in Lexington MA now to September 29, and are invited to a 
> > reception Thursday, September 12, 5 - 8 PM. More info at:
> > 
> > www.lyricdesign.com/dsg/neweyes
> >