What kind of ink is this? Is it Lysonic™ ?

No, it is not Lysonic™. This ink is totally different. It is a hybrid dye base-pigmented ink. The pigment combined with some new dyes provide the archival properties and acceptable color gamut.

Will it clog my printer ?

No, it will not clog the Epson™ printers. The maximum particle size in the pigments is 0.19 microns and the Epson™ print head nozzles are 25 microns plus or minus 5 microns. The ink is filtered to 0.45 microns and does not cause clogging. It stays in suspension. It is rare for an Epson™ print head to clog, 99% of the so called clogs are air/foam related problems. Since we introduced it in October of 1998, there have been no reports of clogging.

How do you know it is archival ?

Because none of us are going to live long enough to know if the ink lasts 100 years, we have to depend on some accelerated testing methods. The Rochester Institute of Technology's Image Permanence Institute and Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. are the most well know testers of archival materials. Our ink is being permanence tested by the RIT Image Permanence Institute. The testing re-started in September, this year and should be complete within 4 months. Prior to this, we have duplicated these test methods in our own lab to assure ourselves that the ink is definitely archival. We have done comparison testing with inks and papers that have been certified by The Wilhelm Research Institute by using our internal fade test method. With our inks and other certified inks, side by side, we have seen that the MIS inks significantly out lasts the 50 year certified inks.

In addition to the Wilhelm type of testing, we have done outdoor tests, UV chamber tests and sun chamber testing. In all cases our inks have out performed other inks that have been certified as 50 year plus by a wide margin. This gives us great confidence that indeed, we do have an archival ink.

Because our certification testing is not complete, we can make no binding promises as to how long they will last. We are in a beta test phase. There is no guarantee on how many years the inks will last. Once we are certified, then the results of the testing will be made public for all to view. In the mean time, please do not create any liability for yourself or for us by making promises to customers or clients. We will furnish test samples on request that you can evaluate your self or you can purchase the ink, make your own prints and determine the suitability of our archivalness for yourself.

What paper will it work on ?

Our internal testing has been done on our JPG-170, JPG-206 and Somerset Velvet paper. All are inkjet coated, except the Somerset Velvet. We have printed on our JPG-206 photo glossy paper (made by Weber Valentine) and on Epson™ SO41141 photo glossy paper. Both work well, but we have not completed permanence testing with them. Our customers have printed on Arches Hot Press and Legion West Concorde Rag with very good results. Paper evaluations continue as we speak.

For best archival results, the paper must be archival itself. This means it has to be a certified paper like Somerset Velvet. Some papers test acid free, but they have not been certified. Our goal is to have this complete by the end of 1999.

We have found that the archival ink will print on most coated paper except for the film type papers. If the coating is sticky to the touch of a wet finger, then there is a good chance it will work fine. The non sticky coatings may or may not work. Kodak™ and Polaroid™ inkjet photo papers do not seem to work as well as others. Our customers report that the archival ink will not dry on ILFORD inkjet paper. The fine art papers or water color papers work fine, but of course the colors are not as brilliant as on the coated papers, with the exception of Concorde Rag and Somerset Photo Enhanced (because of their coatings).

Are the colors the same as Epson's™ ?

We can achieve 95% of the Epson™ color gamut after making adjustments to the printer driver settings or doing color calibration with Monaco EZ Color™. There is a slight loss of color, which varies from one paper to another. In most cases the images can be adjusted to nearly match the Epson™ default settings. The recommended starting point is to move the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow sliders on the print driver to 3/4 of maximum.

Because the inks are a combination of a dye based and a pigmented ink, there is an issue with transparency. Dye based inks are totally transparent. Pigment blocks the transparency. The pigments are colored, so the end result, after making printer driver and calibration adjustments is very close to the originals made with Epson™ dye based ink.

Do I have to use a head cleaning fluid or flushing fluid ?

No, our archival inks are compatible with Epson's™ ink. They are both water based. They will mix together without any negative effects. It is not like some of the other archival inks on the market which can react with Epson™ ink to form sludge or particles. For these reactive or non compatible inks, a flushing fluid is mandatory. We do not have this problem. However, when you first install our archival inks there will be a mixture of Epson™ and MIS ink in the print head. This mixture is not archival and must be purged from the print head. The smaller printers (not the 3000) can be purged by printing some bar charts of each color that cover 80% of the page. After several pages of each color (CMYK) the output will be 98% archival.

To purge an Epson™ 3000 printer there is a special procedure, which can be found on the bottom of the "purging" page and is called "Purging an Epson™ 3000". After you use this procedure, then you should print at least 5 pages of bar charts, just like above. If you don't use this procedure, then print 60 pages of bar charts.

We have introduced a cleaning cartridge filled with a clear cleaning solution. This can be used to make sure that all of the older ink has been removed from the printer. We have discovered that if the purging is not 100 percent complete, that very minor banding can occur. This minor banding is not noticalbe on all images. Running the cleaning cartridges until no trace of color is present is a positive technique for eliminting this problem.

Is this a waterproof ink ?

We put some archival prints done on Somerset Velvet outdoors and they ran. So on uncoated paper we must say that the ink is not waterproof. On a coated paper, with a water resistant coating, the inks are waterproof. On the JPG-170 or JPG-206 the prints do not bleed or run when exposed to water for short periods of time. When exposed repeatedly for several days, some running occurs.

The pigment in the inks gives them their water resistant characteristics, but weather they are totally waterproof is highly dependent on the paper being used. We can say with high confidence that the water resistance of the archival inks is much better than the original Epson™ inks.

Have you had any problems so far ?

Yes, we learned early on that the black ink was not black enough. In November of 1998 we increased the amount of black dye in the ink to strengthen it. It now performs very similar to the Epson™ black. In January of 99, we also increase the strength of the colors by a small amount. Now that we have submitted our inks for permanence testing, no further changes are planned.

If you have a prefilled cartridge that is not working properly, let us know and we will send you a replacement.

What are Quadtone Inks ?

Our Quadtone Ink set is a set of 4 archival black inks in which 3 have been diluted with a clear base stock to produce 3 shades of gray and 1 black. The three shades of gray can be loaded into an Epson™ color cartridge to produce beautiful, dot free, black and white prints. We have a 25% black, a 50% black and a 75% black plus the original 100% black. The 25% goes in the cyan chamber, the 50% in the yellow chamber and the 75% in the magenta chamber. The 100% black goes in the black cartridge. When used in conjunction with the correct Photoshop workflow, the results are spectacular. You can find our product offerings on ourQuadtone Page.

Will the Quadtone inks work in a 6 color photo printer ?

Yes, but 2 additionial inks are required, a 15% to replace the light cyan and a 45% to replace the light magenta. This ink set is refered to as our Sixtone Inkset. The 6 color photo printers will make beautiful black and white prints, just like the 4 color printers as long a the paper being used is coated.

What paper should I use with the MIS Quadtone Inks ?