Jon on the PiezoTones
2002-07-18 by pbard2002
Hi All, Thought the list members might be interested in a post by Jon Cone over on the PiezoPro24 list. It deals with some users' questions regarding how to describe the inks to prospective buyers of fine art produced with the PT inkset, and some of the technology behind the pursuit of print longevity... Dave, These are not such troublesome questions. What a lot of people do not realize is that carbon is not BLACK. Carbon Black is in actuality a very dark dark brown. In larger masses such as globs of paint or printers ink, the carbon mass appears to be black. But in the thin film of inkjet ink, the mass-tone appears black. Additionally, ink chemists have had a tough time suspending carbon black with other pigments. This was then. So they used dye in small amounts to neutralize the warmth of the carbon and arrive at a more neutral tone. The newer inks use pigments in place of dye. The technology is smarter. 3 years smarter. We never advertised the PiezographyBW inks as pure carbon. We have always been very forthright about their properties and early on suggested which papers would cause more warming from the loss of dyes from light-exposure. Archival?? This is a two-edged sword. Archival means can it be preserved. LONGEVITY implies display life under light. Use each term with intention. Archival - yes under the right conditions.... AN EXPECTATION? NO. A c-print for example is not archival - not even in a freezer. IT has a chemical life. Carbon inkjet prints can be archival however, unlike a c-print. With the older inks - they do not have the stable longevity of the newer inks. PiezographyBW's dye content does not have the stability of the PiezoTones which use pigment (very stable pigment) as a colorant to offset the brown of the carbon. So PiezoBW inks warm (nicely) to their final carbon tone depending upon the paper to varying degrees. Then they stay that way. PiezoTones are intended to stay their tone even under extreme light. PiezoTones are a contemporary Quad Ink which uses technology which has not previously been made available in an inkjet ink. We looked at stability and longevity in addition to archival nature. While the photographic and art world separated these conditions - inkjet and digitalphiles apparently do not. To them it meant the same. Are both inkset families archival? Yes. Do they both offer the same stability? No. Do they both offer the same longevity? No. While we have blue wool data of the new inksets and these are very impressive, they do not indicate display life. We took responsibility as manufacturers of PiezoTones to do complete testing with RIT at great expense. We will be able to give direct comparison results in a matter of weeks. And the results will be in display life rather than in factors. When? We hope the longer from now the better. Because, we are paying for finite end tests to determine display life. And we hope no news for some time because the longer the test proceeds the better the results will be! We have conducted Xenon Arc testing of both inksets and are confident that the PiezoTones offer unprecedented longevity. We are offering an ink which we believe is both archival and has the greatest possible longevity. It just so happens that our inks have aesthetic qualities which are also unparalleled, but this is a result of our personal convictions. That they are more trouble free, is a result of listening to our customers and responding in a responsible way. If you are happy with your original inks, you will continue to be. However, ConeTech and ConeEditions and ConeStudio are not known for resting on laurels. We have developed some pretty startling mono systems over the years and Piezographers deserved to be treated to the best ink technology currently available so that all Piezographers will have the best chance and opportunity of trouble-free ink delivery. The aesthetics and new stability are just some additional icing on what is widely perceived as a pretty nice piece of cake! -------------------------------- may your highlights be dotless and your tonal scale smooth, Jon Cone jon@c... Piezography(tm) software and inks http://www.piezography.com Cheers, Phil http://philbard.com http://laphotoworkshops.com