Digital BW, The Print

On 16 Jan 2009, at 11:03 AM, garyphoto6 wrote:

> I spoke with MIS and they said that Eboni6 has been discontinued.  
> There
> will be a news posting on the site in the next day or two.

Wow, that's a bit of a shock.  Although I understand there are often  
reformulations and other reasons to discontinue a product, I find  
myself a bit anxious about this situation.  But until we hear more  
news, I won't try to second-guess MIS.

I'm realizing that it makes me concerned about depending on a single  
supplier for an essential material.  After 10 years of inkjet printing  
(mostly with quadtones), I've found myself quite happy with the  
Eboni-6 system, for quality, value, and (relative) simplicity.   
However, I was considering moving to Paul's Carbon-6 workflow, in part  
because of the craft aspect of making my own dilutions, but also to  
separate myself a bit further from the need into a pre-packaged  
system.  Of course, Carbon-6 still depends on buying a base black ink  
for the dilution.  (I presume that unlike traditional printmaking,  
it's not easy to make one's own ink.)

As Gary is also wondering, I would be very interested in hearing of  
alternate sources for a mixable, bulk pigment, base-black ink that is  
similar in structure and quality to Eboni-6.  I don't understand the  
details of the ink market, in terms of who makes ink for whom, but any  
light that can be shed would be very much appreciated, at least by me.

Best,
--John