Digital BW, The Print

Hello Richard,

>I'm planning to exhibit some Ultrachrome K2 murals and only have
>Enhanced Matte roll paper for my 2100. Can't afford a roll of 
>Photo Rag ... am dubious about the Epson Premium Semi Gloss's 
>bronzing ... and wondered if anyone could report back on whether 
>UV protective glass will stop the yellowing of EEM.
>It would be great to be able to print on this paper if it can be 
>made more stable somehow.

How long will it be on display, and what will happen to it after the
exhibit?  If it's not meant to be permanent then you might want to go
ahead with the EEM.   I say this because I have an EEM print (actually
the original EAM with the "Epson + arrow" on the back) that has been
on my windowsill (some direct sunlight every day + very bright
daylight all day) for just over three years now.  From my observations
I can say these things:

- the "yellowing" isn't really the color yellow, but is more like a
very warm cream white natural paper.  It is a bit warmer than Merlin
Natural (the only natural paper I have to compare with).  So it isn't
really extreme looking.

- the color is even, not at all spotty, blotchy or streaked, and I
don't recall seeing any unevenness as it yellowed in the early days
when I watched it frequently.

- I can't measure the yellowing, but my impression is that it reached
a certain point fairly quickly (a few weeks or months) and then
stopped.  It's been three years now and I don't have any sense of it
having continued to change after that initial period.

- there is no sign of the kind of brownish yellow color that is
usually associated with acid staining.  No spots or darkened edges. 
It just looks like a very warm paper.  I have no idea how long it
would take before acid stains would appear.


So, assuming that the current EEM will exhibit these same
characteristics as this older EAM, it might be an ok paper for this use.

BTW, this windowsill print is my Eboni BO test print and after three
years of some direct sunlight every day still shows no sign of fading
(it's partially covered by a 1" wide strip of 4-ply matt board).

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm