Digital BW, The Print

Hi guys.

Partially thanks to this list I have been printing BO on my 1280 for a weeks now, after struggling to get the 85% + shadows to come out right for a year with MIS VM.  I actually kind of like the grainyness of the BO.

At first I was doing BO with the MIS VM black on EAM and it looked fine.  Then I thought:   If I'm only going to do the B&W as BO, I might as well load color in the color cartridge and I could get glossy to work well too, using the MIS Ultrachrome equivalent for the 1280.

When you get the stuff in cartridges, you can only get the "Universal Black".  Printing that on PermaJet Glossy or Epson Premium Glossy, I found that the black was not very glossy at all and exhibited pretty significant bronzing.  I haven't checked it out scientifically, but I would guess that anything over 90% is pretty matte and bronzed.  I have been spraying it with Shureguard and that makes it OK, but I'd like it glossier...

I know they make a glossy Ultrachrome equivalent in bulk.  Has anyone used that on either of those papers?  Is it pretty glossy?

Also, I might want to keep a "universal" cartridge for matte printing and switch between them.  Any opinions on "out-of-the-printer" shelf life for a partially used cartridge?

As always, thanks a bunch.

Boris

PS:  I couldn't agree more about the compliments for Paul Roark.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]