Spotting Color Inkjet Prints

Hello Fellow Hybrids,

My question tonight is can anyone share any tips about spotting color inkjet prints? I've just made a color inkjet print that looks perfect except for a small white spot. I know I can reprint but just thought I would ask anyway.

Thanks,

Don Bryant

Don:

I know it'll sound too easy, but I've had very good luck with a carbon pencil, grade B or 2B. I like Derwent Graphic. I sharpen it well, round off any burs on a piece of scrap watercolor paper, and then gently stipple in the spot. Seems to work on just about any color. You don't need to match (if it's a small spot) just obscure the blinding white. (You might want to practice first).

Denise

Don:

p.s. I just realized I'm talking about matte paper. Pencil probably wouldn't work on a glossy surface.

dwross said:

Don:

p.s. I just realized I'm talking about mat paper. Pencil probably wouldn't work on a glossy surface.

Click to expand...

Denise,

Thanks for the tip. I am printing on matt paper.

I was thinking that a a soft pastel pencil might work before spraying the print. Of course like I said making another print maybe just as easy.

Don

Hi Don, agree it is an annoying but real issue. I ended up using watercolour paints and very fine 0000 brush. Other effective methods were posted on this thread http://www.hybridphoto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246

Don Bryant said:

Denise,

Thanks for the tip. I am printing on matt paper.

I was thinking that a a soft pastel pencil might work before spraying the
print. Of course like I said making another print maybe just as easy.

Don

Click to expand...

Hey Don,

A pastel pencil might work, but I think watercolor would be your best bet.
The value is probably more important than the color.

In fact, if it's a tiny spot... you might try a little spotting brush dampened
with alcohol or water, and just feather-in the surrounding existing ink from
the print.

Good luck, and report back!

Susan

Hi All,

Far be it from me to turn down an excuse to use a little brush and color (I handcolor prints with dyes, and a 00000 brush with half the hairs cut off, under a microscope - walking uphill, in a snowstorm) but don't dismiss the pencil trick because it seems too easy. I would be reluctant to get water on the surface of the paper (at least the Epson Enhanced Matte that I usually use). Pulling out a carbon pencil is easy enough that the fallback of wasting paper and ink on a new print doesn't seem the easier alternative.

Denise

Why mix the different media?

Get a sheet of overhead material, cut the spot out of the image in you image editor, paste them to a new document much larger, print on the overhead material. Take a fine brush to each spot to pick up the now mixed to proper color, paint on the print. Now it's all the same ink, so it should age the same as the rest of the print. If you mix the media to another type, the spots will not age the same as the rest of the print.

You can try inkjet overhead material, but it will let the ink dry. Regular overhead material will not let the ink dry, so you will have more working time. You may need to glue the clear overhead material to a sheet of thin paper to get it to feed correctly (depending on the printer).

Also note that both of these overhead materials could leave inky spot on rollers and stuff, so pick the printed areas carefully, or clean your printer after the fix. Since the inkjet overhaed stuff lets the ink dry, it will have a finite life, the laser or other overhead stuff should be able to be cleaned many times for the next run.

Alternate might be some nice white (opaque) drafting film because the sensors in the printer will be able to detect the film. The drafting film also normally has enough texture to let the ink stick to the printed spot, smooth sheets might let the ink drip.

Alternate to all this is to take those "empty" ink carts and drain the leftover into bottles. Then use these bottles to blend the approximate color and paint from a palette.

But over all I suggest using the same media that is used for the print so that everything ages at the same rate.

BTW, Epson enhanced matte discolors very quickly. Goes from the bright white to natural white in a very short amount of time. It is also slightly acidic. Most of us stay clear of EEM for anything that is important. WHen I was printing for money I would turn people away that insisted on my using EEM for their prints.

Here is a spectral plot of EEM after only about 15 days in a window, it takes about 2 months to reach this in a frame on the wall, and it continues to yellow from what is shown. Notice how the blue end is changing.

After reading what Greg said about how to use the same ink by printing on
some kind of plastic film that keeps the ink wet... I vote for that being the
best bet. Very good idea!

Susan

I wish I could claim it, read about it on DPreveiw a couple years ago. The nice thing is that it creates the correct mix. The downside is it could cause a mess in your printer. If you use one that has a straight through paper path, there is little problem. If you use a large format where the paper goes through at a downward angle.... drips could result

Sometimes it would be nice to have a special touch up output cup in a printer so that the printer will just spit a bunch of the correct mix of inks in the cup.