Converting painting to print...

[Caron]

Hi to all!
Im at a stage where I want to convert my paintings to print for sale. I have been reading and am aware that folks are doing this themselves versus' going to a printer and getting plates made and in turn 1,000 copies!
My question is 2 fold..
First-printer possibilites and ink cartridges needed..
Second-possibilites of printing on watercolour paper instead of photo paper...
I appreciate all your suggestions here..Im lost:crying:
Caron

[Fig]

Hi Caron,

I hear lots of artists who are happy with Epson inkjet printers. This company seems to service the needs of people who need archival quality inks, a variety of papers, and image quality. I remember reading a thread on WC about this topic. Try a search in the forums.

Fig

[Caron]

Thanks Fig for your input. I felt it was Epson that I was looking at. I have an older model-Stylus Color 400 and I guess I want to know is if I can use it with the inks that are supplied(Epson inkjet inks) printed on watercolour paper and sell my work as a 'print of an original' or if I would need special inks to do that? Im aware that I would only be able to print as large as an 8x10 using my machine.Ive tried looking thru the forums but am getting only more confused and filled with questions..
Caron

[Trimoon]

I use a Epson 9000 & 9500 i can print on canvas & watercolour paper (Arches, Epson & Strathmore ). Archival quality inks 150-200yrs. From 1- 10 i give it 10 (HP i give it a 5). Able to print as large as an 36x44 Sheet or Roll 44in x45 ft and more.

Steve

[herr bean]

."Thanks Fig for your input. I felt it was Epson that I was looking at. I have an older model-Stylus Color 400 and I guess I want to know is if I can use it with the inks that are supplied(Epson inkjet inks) printed on watercolour paper and sell my work as a 'print of an original' or if I would need special inks to do that?"

Ok, my understanding is that no matter what inks you use it could qualify as a print of an original. The thing that comes into play is whether or not you want your customers to really be pleased with their purchase. If I were to buy a print I would expect it to be able to last a while so I would be expecting archival ink and I would want the highest reasonable quality. Since your Stylus 400 is probably a few years old I would guess that it isn't up to printing at the kind of quality people would be expecting in a print, I could be wrong about that though as I'm not familiar with that particular printer. And again since I'm not familiar with your printer go ahead and check the specifications to see whether or not it is capable of printing on water color paper, I would guess that it is not.

I'm looking at Epson's page right now and there is a printer on here that is capable of printing on water color paper it is a touch on the expensive side though, it runs about nine hundred dollarslink (http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/ProductQuickSpec_BigImage.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1301132012.1011328301@@@@&BV_EngineID=jadcddeifklkbfdmcfjgckidnf.0&oid=8987&category=Products&nextPage=/ProductQuickSpec.jsp) it is capable of printing at up to 13"x 19" which is a fairly decent size as well. I've had three of Epson's lower end printers and have been happy with all of them and I can only imagine the higher end printers like this one being even better. Before making an investment like this try and find a person with lots of experience in this area so that you know exactly what you are getting yourself into, printing can get a little bit confusing, I've only got a rudimentary idea of how it all works. One more thing to keep in mind is that in order for you to get the most out of the printer you are going to need some other stuff to go along with it, good quality scanner, properly calibrated monitor etc. And none of this stuff is going to be cheap. Hopefully somewhere in my ramblings I've made things a little bit clearer, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask

[Caron]

Thank you Herr Bean for your input. I too have been to the Epson sight and believe Epson is where it is at. I also saw that elite printer Epson offers but because of its price tag, Im wondering if there is an alternative that is being used. Throughout WC, various artists are printing their own prints and the very reason I have done this posting is to find out what they are doing.
My Epson is probably not good enough, as you have said....but it is suppose to do 'photo quality' but Im not big on printing and have never tried. These archival inks, are for that specific printer or can they be bought for various other models?? My 400 is a few years old now but I would like to know of alternative to the 7000..
Caron

[herr bean]

I think you're only going to be able to use archival ink if the printer was designed to use it. The stylus 400 while not being a bad printer at all was intended for a different market than something like the 7000 and probably has a different type of ink cartridge. I suppose it might be possible to get archival ink refills and then use them to refill the cartridges for your printer. Have you ever tried contacting one of the artists that are doing their own printing to find out in more detail how they're doing the printing and what they're doing it with? As far as the photo quality of your printer its a term thats been thrown around a lot with ink jet printers and has become sort of generic, my Epson Stylus 500 that I bought in 1996 claims to be able to print at photo quality, and while it does print well its not photo quality, not even on photo paper at the highest settings.

A couple more options you might consider are looking for a used printer of the same quality thats maybe a year or two old, you probably won't lose much if any quality and it will be a whole lot cheaper than buying new, just make sure you do some research if you go this route to make sure you don't end up with something that isn't up to the standards neccessary (you seem to be doing this already so just keep it up). Another option you might consider is trying to find someone else in your area that is interested in doing the same thing as you to see if they would be willing to split the costs with you.