Federico,
>I think I'll start with Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk + a glossy inkset.
That is a good combination.
>I found your document http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/1400-Claria-Noritsu-2K2LK.pdf very interesting.
Interesting, yes, and fairly easy, but it's not really the best for longevity. I'm also not sure how economical the Noritsu large carts are unless you're doing a lot of printing.
See footnote one of the above PDF, which gets you to
This PDF has a lot of general information about the Claria/Noritsu dyes. The first couple of pages and then the appendix for sources of the Noritsu dyes may be of particular interest.
Note that if you want a long display life you should stay with carbon inks. See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Glossy-Carbon-Variable-Tone.pdf
>I am still puzzled by the different clear bases which are on offer on https://www.inksupply.com/roarkslab:
1. PR-C6BBASE-PT 2. Is this for Eboni (carbon) pigments?
Yes. My C6B generic base is the one I recommend for Eboni. But for your paper, you need glossy carbon, not Eboni, which is a matte black. It rubs off of glossy papers.
>2. PR-CLEARBASE-PT. Is this for diluting Epson Claria (Noritsu) dyes?
>3. ESC-BASEPT-UC. What is this for?
That is the MIS "Amber" base. It is for their glossy pigment inks, including the glossy carbon I recommend diluting for the glossy carbon inkset.
>If I started with a dye-only inkset, I guess I would need just Epson Claria dyes + PR-CLEARBASE-PT.
Yes. If you want dyes, use that base, which is found at
Unless you have a lot of Claria K carts, you'll have to find a good source for the Claria/Noritsu K. That's where you run into the large cart quantities and prices. You might want to check eBay. Pulling ink from small Epson cartridges is not very economical.
>In your 2K-2LK approach you use two blacks (K + LK) + two toners. What if one replaced the additional K & LK with additional blacks LLK + LLLK, as in Eboni-4?
It could work, but the more dilute the dye K is, the less lightfast. The very light inks are not really needed in a 1.5 pl printer. The point of the "2k-2LK" inkset was simplicity of mixing and maintaining the setup, and it works quite well.
BTW, with a dye inkset it is more important than with a pigment inkset to apply a spray after the print is dry to seal it.
Note also that, unlike a carbon inkset, with the dyes the K is less lightfast than the colors. See page 3 of http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4000-Noritsu-2K.pdf for how the color v. Black Only prints color shift in different directions. By using both, you can somewhat offset the color shift, which is what you see first in fading. This would apply also to the 1430/1500 with the Claria dyes if one used QTR and split the printing between color and black only profile. See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/1400-Claria-BW.pdf .
Good luck with the setup, and let me know if you have questions.
Paul