Digital BW, The Print

"john dean" <deanwork2003@...> wrote:
>... 
> What I'm trying to find out is, what IS the base? 
>The Vivera base 

See the HP MSDS for the grey ink at http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/productdata/pdf/ij_c9451a_us_eng_v1.pdf

>and the "C6" base.

The "C6" base is water, glycerol, Photoflow (propylene glycol and alcohol wetting agents), with Edwal LFN wetting agent (alcohols) optional.

> I'm suspect of anything that is laid down on the paper changing 
> or staining over time.

I agree.  The water and alcohol surfactants will just evaporate.  The glycols will very slowly evaporate from the photo papers -- that's the source of the fog.  The glycerol and glycols appear to have an affinity for cellulose and may just stay in the matte papers forever.

I've tried to get answers from chemists as to what will happen to them, and I have not had consistent answers.  While none think something bad will happen, the "washed Arches" a couple of us are pursuing is, in part, to get these substances out of the print.

For the C6 base, I simply used materials there were the most common and safest.  The formula is very close to Epson gloss optimizer.  

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com