Digital BW, The Print

Got my Arches Brite White Hot Press from good old Cheap Joe's Art Supplies
and thought I'd toss out some initial results of tests with the Epson Stylus
3000 and Allen's (Lincoln Inks and Papers) Spectratones inkset.

1.  The paper is very slightly yellow - not nearly as much as regular Arches
but I would only all this Brite White in comparison with the regular Arches
stuff, not in comparison with most bluish-white inkjet papers.  Rather a
nice paper color actually.

2.  Paper size is 22.5 inches by 30 with four deckle edges so you'll have to
cut off at least one deckle to get it through an Epson Stylus 3000.  Fine
size for a 7000 though!

3.  Color of the Spectratone inks is quite gray under fluorescent, tungsten,
and halide bulbs,  as well as under natural daylight.  Haven't found a light
source yet that makes it look other than gray.  Warm light (incandescent)
makes it look a slightly more warm gray than sunlight but it doesn't look
like a tinted gray or change the tonal relationships across a gradient.
Rather a neutral response across light sources.

4.  Slight bit of fiber show through in the mid tone patches but not at all
obvious at large print viewing distance and not nearly as noticeable as in
regular Arches hot press with Spectratones.  Might want to try a very light
coating of additional gelatin as an experiment (in addition to the existing
internal gelatin sizing) but I wouldn't say it is necessary.

5.  No slight stipple effect as can be seen in the Cold Press Brite White.
No heavy texture like one gets with Oce watercolor.  Nice smooth matte
surface.

6.  D Max for the K ink in the Epson driver is 1.4, a bit disappointing but
essentially the same as the Oce and other watercolors with the Epson driver.
With Pressready in CMYK mode the D max for the black ink by itself is 1.52
(better) and for 100% C plus 100% K patch it is 1.54.  100% each of CMY
(300% ink) results in a D max of 1.52 (I'm using a special #2 tone in the C
channel that is almost as dark as the black otherwise CMY with no K would be
lower).  The CMY patch is a very nice *looking* black - ie it has a nice
appearance not only a decent D max.

7.  In PressReady with the Glossy Paper media setting bleeding occurs at
400% ink but none is apparent (yet) at 300% ink.  Combined with the D Max of
the CMY patch this means that  channel separations using up to 300% total
ink with only the three CMY (no K) channels will give a usable ink level
with almost the same black as a separation that uses the k channel.  This is
a much simpler separation to create since it eliminates the need to turn
light ink channel curves down in the dark zones (and the problem that
sometimes creates with tonal reversals in the image).  No bleeding even at
400% with the PressReady Photo paper setting - but the CMY and other blacks
are not as dark either.

8.  Longevity -- beats me.  But this is a gelatin sized paper and Allen says
all the other gelatin sized and coated papers are doing well with
Spectratones so it is likely this one will as well.

In short -- I'm not sure this is going to be the smooth matte watercolor
*winner* but it is certainly likely to be a keeper.  I'll probably not use
the Epson RGB driver method with this paper though.  I think PressReady will
do better for this - at least on the Epson Stylus 3000.  On a 1200 (which
dumps down more ink than a 3000 in the RGB driver) it may be a very
different story.  I'll experiment with the paper a bit more - if there are
any show stoppers I'll holler to the list.

-- Dan Culbertson
so many years, so little time...