Digital BW, The Print

I doubt this would be a big help for conventional tone but I'm
imagining it would have potential in a couple of areas, such as
production of more genuine duotones, application of many more ink/s
pigments on a single sheet, and gloss spots (eg a
"glop"-coated-therefore-glossy photo on a matte sheet...nice).

The BIGGEST potential might be if non-photographic printmakers (eg
etchers or seriographers or stone lithographers) started using this
technology for more than photography...


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "njfranknj"
<kolwicz@e...> wrote:
> 
> I did some two-pass printing years ago: one pass on an 1160 with MIS
> quadtones and another on a 1200 with color. My purpose was not to
> improve darks, it was to integrate color with the smoothness of
> quadtone B&W and to handle each part separately.
> 
> I found that, by using 1 pixel "L" shaped corner markers and keeping
> the image well away from the leading edge with the markers that about
> 1 out of 4 print passes would align both marks and the print would
> align pretty well - well enough that I was able in one test to put a
> colored object exactly back into the B&W area is was previously cut
> out of, with no white border showing and no apparent overlap. It was
> very tedious, though, so I went to other methods for minimizing the
> need for such accuracy.
> 
> The two printers did not align horizontally, so I had to put a shim in
> one to make up the difference, but even so, the paper did not always
> align perfectly no matter how much care I took in guiding it into the
> printer.
> 
> I put the corner marks on the leading edge of the image file (sized
> for the paper, with the image area having a large border of blank
> paper, especially at the leading edge), so that I could watch them
> being printed during the start of the second pass and just shut off
> the printer and eject the paper, if they didn't align during that
> pass. As I said, about 1 out of 4 passes they did align and the whole
> print then would be aligned.
> 
> I wonder, though, if multiple coatings of black ink really would make
> enough difference to make this process worthwhile: would you run into
> the law of diminishing returns? I'll take a look at the Blacklock
> article as soon as I get a chance.
> 
> Frank
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Djon"
> <westsidemaurice@y...> wrote:
> > 
> > I mistakenly buried this idea in an earlier post...
> > 
> > In View Camera Magazine ( www.viewcamera.com ) Craig Blacklock
> > explains "double-pass quadtone printing." Beautiful prints of nudes
> > and nature.
> > 
> > I wonder if it will work on common 2200 and similar printers using OEM
> > pigments?
> > 
> > I've started playing with the idea...using test photos, my 2200 places
> > dots well within 1mm of where they belong on 9" test prints...maybe
> > far more accurately than that...no halos showing out-of-register....
> > 
> > ...for example a low contrast green pass and a very high contrast
> > black pass from a B&W negative I've made an accurately registered
> > two-color silkscreen-style image ...incredibly precise considering
> > it's a totally unmodified printer...
> > 
> > If this can be managed with subtlety in a common desktop printer like
> > 2200, using Photoshop on conventional images it should increase Dmax
> > tremendously and make these printers much more impressive.
> > 
> > Has anybody made this work?