"remononaz1" <homershannon@...> wrote:
>
> The MIS PR-Clearbase arrived yesterday and today RR has a sale on RR-PPM; I've ordered another box. Time to try out the 2K2LK technique!
Let us know how it works out for you.
Most of what I've done with the dyes and metallic paper are cards. The Red River Polar Pearl Metallic frame cards are at
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cardshop/scored/66-polar-pearl-metallic-framecard.html
I also had good luck selling some 11x14 framed, un-glazed photos on metallic paper. However, over that last several days I've been having my own little print competition using the Epson 4000 with the dyes installed (http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4000-Noritsu-BW-Variable-Tone.pdf) with the target being wall display, not cards. On the wall, where one cannot move the print around to take advantage of the unique metallic spectral highlight treatment, I have tentatively decided to concentrate on the Red River Arctic Polar Gloss paper. It has a brighter base (higher Lab L) than the metallic paper. The bright white base with a solid 2.4+ dmax, not to mention rather high OBAs, give it a lot of dynamic range, without regard to where the highlights may be. So far, it has won the beauty contest. Note that the Arctic Polar gloss appears to have better OBAs than some of the other glossy papers. Although the Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy gets a http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/ I* Color rating after 100 Mlux-hours of 83.4 for its paper base, compared to the RR Arctic Polar Gloss's 73.9, the RR paper is much brighter, and in relative terms, I'm not sure but what the Epson paper didn't lose more of its brightness.
Although I use no yellow ink in the midtones of the Metallic card profiles, I've found with the Arctic Polar and some other papers that I like to add enough yellow to pull the midtone Lab B values up almost 3 units from the paper white. I put some yellow (R,G,B = 255, 255, 244) in the "white" image borders to give them a Lab B of just over 1. This is in the natural paper range, and these images probably will be hanging near others that have natural paper mat boards. This puts the midtone print Lab B values half way between the border/faux mat and the highlights.
Contrary to what I had expected, the addition of the yellow to the profiles seems to reduce the impact of the fluorescent light metamerism that these dyes do exhibit.
Note also the relationship between a bit of yellow dye and the OBA dyes. The bluish OBAs will fade toward yellow, and the yellow dye will fade toward blue. In http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/ fade test Sample # AaI_20080619_SN006, Claria color inks were printed on Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy. No protective spray was used. While the overall I* Color ratings are not very good, at 100 Mlux-hours the "neutral 8", Lab L = 75 (light gray) patch has an I* Color rating of 100 -- i.e., hardly any color change. That is where the differential fading of the yellow (it fades the faster than magenta or cyan) matched the OBA fade. Of course, where there was less yellow the neutral tone shifted warm, and where there was more yellow the neutral shifted cool.
Needless to say, for top fine art and museum quality stability, stay with 100% carbon. But for eye candy, these dyes have a place in our digital darkroom.
By the way, if you want a protective spray, the Lascaux Fixativ (http://www.dickblick.com/products/lascaux-fine-art-fixative/) is the one that has a great reputation among pastel painters and is the only one I've found that does not affect the look of these papers. This one has no UV blocking, but there is a version that also does block UV. I've ordered some to test it.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com