Ultra-Tone B&W Inks -
See BW Products Page. . . .
The Original MIS Quadtones -
We have not changed our original product, the MIS Archival Quadtone Inks. We have thousands of
satisfied users of these inks. We will maintain this product as long as there are customers
buying it. It has not been changed since it was introduced in 1998. The original inks are
created by blending our black archival ink with clear Epson base stock. There is absolutely no
color added to the inks, they are neutral. They print on the warm side, due to the reaction
with the paper and the natural warmness of the pigment. They are very stable and have
excellent permanence. Some customers have requested that we offer a more dense black. So now
we offer a double density archival black (ESCARC-4-DD) as an option. (See bulk ink page).
MIS Full Spectrum Quadtones -
The Full Spectrum Quadtones are an improvement over the original Quadtone inks described above.
They are made with a new co-solvent based archival black ink. The co-solvent based black has
a higher density and dries faster than the original black. An excellent workflow for a 4 color
printer has been developed by John Woolf in Boston. John says, "These inks when used
with the Epson 4 color driver, produce the finest black and white prints I have ever seen".
This inkset has passed our internal
permanence testing and is equivalent to the original MIS Quadtones in terms of longevity. It
does not have the capability of making variable-tone prints. Most prints with this ink
will produce a warmtone print. There are only 4 shades in the inkset. To use these
inks in a 6 color printer requires a non-Epson driver. In a 4 color printer the Epson
driver will work fine.
As you may have guessed, some customers have purchased the FS inks for use in their 6 color
printers, but they did not realize that they needed the non Epson driver. So when they tried to make
a print, it did not come out right. So, for those that want to use the Epson driver on a
6 color printer with the MIS FS inkset, we created the 2 missing shades. You will notice
in our bulk ink listing that we have given these part numbers and E suffix, E for Epson
driver. This really can be confusing, but it does work well in the 6 color printers. Of course,
if you are using the non Epson driver, you don't need these extra shades.
The next innovation in the FS inks came when we received requests for a more neutral ink that
would work with the non Epson driver. So we created the FS Neutral inkset (FSN). These inks
will work fine on a 4 color printer with the non Epson driver or the Epson driver. The John Woolf
workflow works well for both the FS and FSN inks, same curve. For the 6 color printers, the
FSN will work with the non Epson driver, but the extra 2 shades are needed to make it work with the
Epson driver.
MIS Variable Mix Quadtones - (see photos at top of page)
We have had many requests for a more neutral or cool looking ink for making black and white prints.
Paul Roark, one of our expert customers, has developed a system for making a cool print by
using a blue shaded ink in one of the chambers of a quadtone system. He uses a Photoshop
curve to mix this blue shade (toner) in on a variable basis. We like to call this ink the Variable
Mix Quadtone Inkset. He did the design work and we made the inks with the densities and
shades he specified. The Variable Mix inks are the best of both worlds. If none
of the blue shade is used, the print will be warm. If some of it is used, it will be neutral,
and of all of it is used then the print will be cool. By varying the curve that is applied,
virtually any degree of coolness can be achieved from 0% to 100%. Paul's workflow and curves
can be found on our workflow page. This
inkset has passed our internal permanence testing and is equivalent to the original
MIS Quadtones in terms of longevity.
As soon as the VM inks were finished, we began getting requests for an inkset that would print
sepia tones. So, Paul went to work and created another variable tone inkset. This one
we call the VMS (variable mix sepia) inkset. It uses the exact same workflow curves
that the VM inkset uses. Instead of putting a blue-gray ink in one of the chambers, we have put
in a sepia tone. So the curves will take you from neutral, to medium warm, to warm, to full
sepia. This ink is available in bulk for those who want to try in virgin empty cartridges or
in a Continuous Flow System. It has passed our internal permanence testing and is equivalent
to the original MIS Quadtones in terms of longevity.
The Black Ink Update 5/31/2007 -
We have now discontinued prodution of all Quadtone inks (VM, VMS, FS, FSN, QUAD, HEX) and are suggesting that all users move
to the Ultratone equivalent. Virtually every printer that had a Quadtone inkset has a similar
more stable Ulratone inkset that will offer more stability in the print tone as well as faster dry times.
Ultratone inks are the newest development in black and white printing. Anchored by the longevity and
stablility of the Eboni black, the other shades are manufactured in a similar fashion
using the new co-solvent. Please visit this link for more information on Ultratone inks and their unique
capabilities...learn more.
The Black Ink Update 7/1/03 -
We get a lot of phone calls asking which black is the best. In the Original Quadtone inks, the
black has a density of 1.62 on Archival Matte. This is apparently fine for all of the folks
that continue to use it. This ink continues to ship and has not been changed in any way since
it was created.
Many customers wanted a black archival ink that was blacker, higher Dmax. We created the MIS
Double Density Black, then later we used a co-solvent ink for the VM and FS blacks. All of these had
about the same Dmax, 1.72 on Archival Matte. These black inks had great fade resistance, but the
VM/FS black shifted slightly to the warm as it aged. Most customers did not find this objectionable.
Early this year (2003) a new blacker pigment became available, via our pigment supplier. We
used it to create a new black ink to replace the Double Density and VM/FS black inks. This new
ink is a pure carbon pigment ink, like the others, but it has fantastic fade resistance and will
not shift. After 600 hours in the Miami Sun (our test chamber) there was no measurable change in
density or and the Delta-E was zero, ie, no shifting. We code named this new black Eboni.
It's estimated life in Wilhelm years is well over 100.
We have not abandon our VM/FS black ink. It is still used as the black ink in our VM, VMS, FS and
FSN cartridges. We had considered using Eboni in place of the VM/FS black, but we did not do it
for fear that it would cause minor changes in the appearance of the B&W images. As we gain
experience with the Eboni black, we will make this move if there are no consequences to the
quality or tonality of the images. We are doing some testing over the next couple of months to
make a determination.
Eboin has the same Dmax, 1.72 as the other inks, but does not mix well with the other black inks.
It is the best black ink we have ever made with the highest Dmax on Hahnemule Photo Rag. It is also what
we use in our PG and 7600 Archival inks as the Matte Black. Do not mix Eboni with dyebase black or
blended dyebase blacks, like Media Street G4 and G5. If Eboni is introduced into a cartridge or CFS
that has dye black in it, the mixture will thicken and will not print properly. It does not happen
inside the print head, only in the cartridge where the mixing takes place. If you wish to switch to
Eboni, be sure to start with a virgin cartridge. Swapping bottles on a CFS from dye base to Eboni
is going to cause problems if the cartridge is not changed.
Because of the conflict the PK (photo glossy only) and K (Eboni matte only) inks create for those
who want to print both glossy prints and matte prints, we have created a third black. This
third black we call Universal Black. In our prefilled T007 GP cartridges, we have filled them with
Universal black. It will print on both glossy or matte finish papers. The universal black is not
a pure 100% pigment ink, it has a very small amount of dye in it. The fade resistance of the
Universal black is not as good as the Photo black or Eboni black.
See the B&W Page for more information on Eboni.
Custom Tinting for Quadtone Inks -
We believe the Variable Mix inkset will satisfy 90% of the requests for a tinted ink. However,
due to the great creative talent and desire for uniqueness expressed by our customers, we are
making our Epson clear base stock available for those who want to blend their own tinted
quadtone inks. By mixing the base stock with archival black and archival color inks, all
color tints are possible. The resulting blend will be archival and will work in any Epson
printer. Of course these unique blends or tints will have to be installed in a
Virgin Empty cartridge. A set of empty
bottles, a gram scale and a little bit of trial and error will allow each artist or
photographer to create his own personal inkset. We provide some
tinting guidelines to get you started.
Recommended Papers -
Epson Archival Matte paper has become a standard for B & W printing. It is the basis of
the Roark Workflows and it is normally used as a starting point to validate that the printer,
paper, ink, and workflow are performing properly. Each paper has its own characteristics and
can be profiled. For our inks, the Epson Archival Matte, and Hahanmule Photo Rag are all very close
and can be used without any adjustments.
Our customers have printed on the following papers with good results; Hahanmule Photo Rag,
CIP8511 (MIS), Somerset Velvet (Legion West), Somerset Enhanced (Legion West), Concord Rag (Legion West), Watercolor
Text (Red River), William Turner (Atlantic), German Etching (Atlantic), Japan (Atlantic),
Classic Velour(Luminos), Museum Parchment (Luminos), Flaxen Weave (Luminos), Hi Res(Weber
Valentine), and Osprey (Hawk Mountain). The MIS Archival inks will work on many other types
and brands of paper, there are too many to list and new ones surface everyday.
Making B & W prints on glossy, semi-gloss and luster papers is very difficult, because
the pigment in the ink does not get fully absorbed by the paper coatings. Our new
Eboni ink
will change all of this. We are working on a new VM inkset, made with the MIS 7600
(Ultrachrome equivalent) inks. Our early look at this new ink is very positive. It will print
on glossy paper or matte paper. It is highly stable and archival. It now is undergoing fade
testing and should be released in May, 2003. It has been named
UltraTone B&W.
B&W Cartridges -
Prefilled cartridges containing our original
Quadtone inks, VM inks and FS inks are available for Epson printers. These cartridges are
brand new, not made by Epson. When installed for the first time the color ink is flushed out of
the printer within one or two cleaning cycles. Getting the color inks out of desktop printer
is very easy and not anything to worry about. Getting the color inks out of a wide format
printer is a much more difficult process, due to the large amount of ink in the lines that run
between the cartridges and the print head. Use our tips on
purging for the wide format printers
(3000/5000/7000/7500/9000/9500).
For frequent printers, we have
refill kits available for all of the Epson printers. Each kit contains the inks, an
empty color and black cartridge and detailed instructions. If you print everyday, use
the MIS Continuous Flow System (CFS)
for Epson printers.
Gray Scale Test Image -
Here is a 21 step grayscale stepwedge for testing your curves. It is very handy to have one of
these images, you can make your own our use ours. Click here to
download the file. Or just right click on the
image and save it to your hard drive.
Cleaning Cartridges -
MIS Archival and Quadtone inks are pH compatible with Epson inks. The use of a Cleaning
Cartridge is not required for Epson desktop printers. The only time a cleaning cartridge
is required on a desktop printer is when a none-compatible ink is in your printer, like Luminous,
or Lyson. These inks have an acidic pH and can form sludge or particles if mixed with Epson
or MIS ink, which has a basic pH. This can definitely damage your printer and cause permanent
banding. A cleaning cartridge neutralizes the acidic ink so the MIS or Epson ink can be used.
If you have this situation, see our purging page
and use the cleaning cartridges and the images below to "print out" the previous ink.
If you have a wide format printer and want to change from color to black and white you have a
couple of choices. The best, but longest, way is to use cleaning cartridges. Install the
cleaning cartridges, run a transport procedure, then print our purge images until all color is
gone. Keep track of how many prints it takes to get rid of the color. Then install the B&W
cartridges and follow the exact same procedure again until all the cleaning fluid is gone. The
use of the cleaning cartridges can be skipped, but you will not have the precision of knowing
exactly when all the color is gone.
Download purge.zip (90kb)
to get these test patterns and others.
To expand the file you will need WinZip for PC's or
Stuffit for Mac's
For more information, please use the Quadtone Menu, at right or below,
to navigate to related pages.
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