Printer for printing on aquarell paper

Hi all,

I shoot on film but then I scan the negs and would like to try some of the minimalist shots on aquarell paper so then I’ll tone them.
Which printer would be the best bet on the budget side or a bit above?

Aquarelle paper is a watercolour paper, not an inkjet printer, so the coatings they put on most inkjet papers won't be there. Your images will be much softer on straight w/c papers. Keep in mind that if you're framing anything under glass or plexi, the beautiful texture of w/c papers will just disappear under them. Be sure to get a printer that takes pigmented inks because the dye inks will fade in strong light (or in any light after a time).

My experience w/ this is that after years of scanning negs and inkjet printing, it became a drudge sitting in front of a computer all the time. The darkroom traditional darkroom prints I make now look better, and the whole experience is more pleasant and productive.

momus said:

That's a watercolour paper, not an inkjet printer, so the coatings they put on most inkjet papers won't be there. Your images will be much softer on straight w/c papers. Keep in mind that if you're framing anything under glass or plexi, the beautiful texture of w/c papers will just disappear under them. Be sure to get a printer that takes pigmented inks because the dye inks will fade in strong light (or in any light after a time).

My experience w/ this is that after many, many years of scanning negs and inkjet printing, it became a drudge sitting in front of a computer all the time. The darkroom traditional darkroom prints I make now look better, and the whole experience is more pleasant and productive.

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The goal is to achieve a soft look and also I like the texture of the watercolour paper so my question was formed.
Could you recommend a printer which prints well on aquarell paper? I just want to feed the printer straight with this paper.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...etcn-GXQzqm1RlVdGRqi9HTkaaY7OC5kaAgWkEALw_wcB


I'm not personally familiar with Aquarelle, but I think you'll find a useful review here with Canon Pro 10 and its OEM pigment on Aquarelle from Canson. (that's Canson, not Canon)

My Canon Pro 10 works well on many non-photo papers. Subtle use of Photoshop or similar can emulate any tone you want.

Canson Infinity Aquarelle Rag Watercolor Paper
29 reviews

Description
Acid Free Certified, Mould Made, 100% Rag The world's number one mould-made watercolor paper Aquarelle Rag from Canson Infinity is now available for the Digital Fine Art market. This genuine 100% rag watercolor paper possesses the unique structure surface texture and warm white tone that demanding artists expect from a traditional Fine Art paper. This paper complies with the highest archival standards and is extremely age resistant.

I'm not personally familiar with Aquarelle, but I think you'll find a useful review here with Canon Pro 10 and its OEM pigment on Aquarelle from Canson.. Canon works well on many non-photo papers. Subtle use of Photoshop or similar can emulate any tone you want.

I made a few prints on water color paper some years ago using my Eason printer. Can be done. However, I prefer to do watercolors on watercolor paper, and photographs on photo paper. I feel that trying to make photography imitate other plastic arts was unsuccessfully tried a century and a half ago. Each art form, photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, etc has its special charm. However, there is no law against trying, so go for it and have fun! One never knows until trying.

Another "non photo" paper that can work beautifully (with exploration and practice) is "rice paper" ....in fact MOAB and some others make that sort of paper specifically for inkjet printing.

jtk said:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...etcn-GXQzqm1RlVdGRqi9HTkaaY7OC5kaAgWkEALw_wcB


I'm not personally familiar with Aquarelle, but I think you'll find a useful review here with Canon Pro 10 and its OEM pigment on Aquarelle from Canson. (that's Canson, not Canon)

My Canon Pro 10 works well on many non-photo papers. Subtle use of Photoshop or similar can emulate any tone you want.

Canson Infinity Aquarelle Rag Watercolor Paper
29 reviews

Description
Acid Free Certified, Mould Made, 100% Rag The world's number one mould-made watercolor paper Aquarelle Rag from Canson Infinity is now available for the Digital Fine Art market. This genuine 100% rag watercolor paper possesses the unique structure surface texture and warm white tone that demanding artists expect from a traditional Fine Art paper. This paper complies with the highest archival standards and is extremely age resistant.

I'm not personally familiar with Aquarelle, but I think you'll find a useful review here with Canon Pro 10 and its OEM pigment on Aquarelle from Canson.. Canon works well on many non-photo papers. Subtle use of Photoshop or similar can emulate any tone you want.

Click to expand...

Many thanks! I’ll have a look at it! If I find the printer then I want to tone them with food colouring and vinegar and also coffee. I’ve done it many times and they look great!

Laci Toth said:

Many thanks! I’ll have a look at it! If I find the printer then I want to tone them with food colouring and vinegar and also coffee. I’ve done it many times and they look great!

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Hmmm... sounds interesting! Can you provide any details of your method?

To my way of thinking (and obviously with seeing any examples) this sound more like you are staining the paper and not truly toning the image. Toning an image, to me, is shifting the tone of the greys and blacks. I.e. you are affecting the image not the paper it is printed on.

Either way, I'd be interested in seeing examples and/or hearing the details.

As for printing on paper that is not specifically treated for inkjet printing, I do this regularly on both watercolor paper and printmaking paper... one of my favorites for this is Arches Johannot, specifically because of its unique texture. I also often use smoother papers as well.

I have used the advanced black and white (ABW) mode with an Epson 3880 and a P800 for this sort of printing, using Epson inks. I also use the Piezography Pro system with an Epson 3380 for this type of work. Both systems work well. The Piezography system gives one much more control over the toning of print, especially if you want to do split toning. (Before setting up the Piezo Pro system, I used an old Epson 1440 with their warm neutral inks for this type of work.)

Another method your might like to experiment with is hand-coloring your inkjet prints. In this post (https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/hand-colored-inkjet-print.179779/) I show a hand colored print made with Piezography inks on Hahn. Biblio paper. There are more examples of this on my website, see: http://gorga.org/blog/?s=hand-colored

jtk said:

Another "non photo" paper that can work beautifully (with exploration and practice) is "rice paper" ....in fact MOAB and some others make that sort of paper specifically for inkjet printing.

Click to expand...

Rice paper! I totally forgot about it. Thanks for raising my awareness!

fgorga said:

Hmmm... sounds interesting! Can you provide any details of your method?

To my way of thinking (and obviously with seeing any examples) this sound more like you are staining the paper and not truly toning the image. Toning an image, to me, is shifting the tone of the greys and blacks. I.e. you are affecting the image not the paper it is printed on.

Either way, I'd be intere

Click to expand...

Yes, you’re right, it’s rather staining the paper than toning the subjects of the photo.
I use food colouring what you can find in any supermarket.
As with vinegar I use cider vinegar and white vinegar. White vinegar is better if you don’t want the vinegar to take any colouring effect. The coffee is the cheapest powder coffee what you can get. I use it only if I want to boost the orange or brownish stain.
The mixing is quite improvised, I just go with my gut feelings and check the colours by eye and continuously keep in mind that the vinegar will dilute the colours so I always mix a deeper tone.
Without the vinegar and/or coffee the food colouring doesn’t do too much only a bit of layer, I just tried it once how it goes but from the first attempt I always added vinegar and/or coffee depending the colour I want to get. It needs the acid to be able to soak in deeper in the paper’s tissue.
What was suprising to me was this mixture’s ability to keep the colours for a long time. Okay I don’t know for how long will they last but I’ve done these examples for more than a year ago and none of them were faded not even one bit.
When I finally ready with the mix I add water to it. This is also a factor when mixing the colours. I usually add only a few splash as it’s better to avoid diluting the mix. The water is hot, I wait a few minutes after boiling. I never tried boiling the vinegar and adding it straight to the mix though I should and I will at the next staining.
The hotter this mix is the earlier the effect takes on the paper but still needs a few minutes. My observation was that there’s no need to leave the paper in the mix for longer as it won’t do too much afterwards and if yes the paper will begin to molder especially at the sides, unless one want to achieve this effect.
Before I place the paper I mix the mix well avoiding the knots to be formed as it can ruin the smooth look though it can also have an interesting effect if that’s the goal.
If I find the right printer I then have to experiment with watercolour paper as it will react a different way in terms of how it soaks in this mixture and how it will react and keep the colour and so on.
I’ve checked the printers and papers you suggested and well worth to think about them, so thank you indeed! Also the hand colouring is something I might consider doing.

freecitizen said:

https://ilford.com/product/creative-emulsion/

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Hmmm... interesting! I was not aware of this product. Thanks for the info.

I wonder how this compares with InkAid... https://inkaid1.com/

Laci,

Thanks for the info.

The examples you posted are very nice.

They remind me of an experiment I did about a decade ago, before I retired. For some reason, we had a bunch of colored (mostly pastels, if I remember correctly) copier paper in the office. I printed a few photos on some of this paper just to see how they would look, but I did not try anything serious. Cheap copier paper is too far from archival to put much effort into and I never thought to try finding something better.

Now, I'll have do put prints with colored paper (by whatever method) on my experiments to do list. Thanks for the idea!

fgorga said:

Hmmm... interesting! I was not aware of this product. Thanks for the info.

I wonder how this compares with InkAid... https://inkaid1.com/

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They do the same function - provide a receptor for inkjet ink, except Ilford looks way more expensive than the InkAid. InkAid is probably the oldest/first coating that i remember from way back (early naughts) when there were no pre-coated fiber based papers available.

These coatings (InkAid ones, I am not sure about Ilford but I presume so) are water soluble, i.e. not water proof. So I would think they wouldn't keep well in a "toning" process that the OP describes - probably would result in an ink lift-off.

:Niranjan.

fgorga said:

Now, I'll have do put prints with colored paper (by whatever method) on my experiments to do list. Thanks for the idea!

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Great! You’re welcome!

Interesting! The examples you gave are excellent. Thank you for providing this information.