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Fine Art Reproduction Technologies and Alternative Photo Printing  Processes

As a fine artist or an art collector, you probably would  appreciate knowing that your options in the Limited Edition printing field are not limited to Giclee, serigraphs or lithographs only. Below you'll find  information on several unique and rare fine art reproduction  processes.

With the tremendous advance of computer technology, artists and collectors have more choices then ever before. It seems like for every art medium there are at least one or more of corresponding printing methods.
Of course, only a few of them can provide a relatively close feel of the original art piece. One of the major concerns is the fade-resistance of the digital prints. I myself also see a problem with 100% computerized or mechanical reproduction of multilayered oil and egg tempera paintings. Fortunately,  improvements in this area are progressing with the speed of light, so all you have to do is to pick the appropriate printing method for your limited editions and stay informed so you'll  be able to educate your potential collectors.

Digital Printing

IRIS (www.irisgraphics.com) large format inkjet printers use vegetable-based dyes (similar to watercolors) which makes them a perfect choice for reproducing watercolor paintings. Iris 4047 printer can print on paper, metallic foil, canvas and fabric. IRIS (Giclee) prints should have UV coating to protect them against fading. Maximum size of the print is 34" x 46".

Digitograf (CRA Production) -  digital art printing on canvas with oil based acid free inks. Prints are extremely durable, waterproof and fade resistant. They are printed on 8 color printer with very high resolution. The advantage over the Giclee(IRIS) is that Digitograf can be printed on 44"x 94" canvas with deeper dark colors. Digitograf are mostly suited for the reproduction of oil paintings.

Repligraph (CRA Production) - dye printing process on canvas. Prints can be made from slides or negatives only and, thus can not be altered on the computer. Several polymer films are dyed with cyan, yellow, magenta and then fused into the canvas. Repligraphs are durable as Digitografs. Maximum size is 46"x 98". Repligraph technology is mostly suited for the reproduction of oil paintings.

The EverColor Pigment Transfer Print ( www.evercolor.com/lab/index.html )  and
Ultrastable ( http://www.ultrastable.com )   are based on the carbon printing process developed in the 19th century. Light sensitive layers containing pure pigments are  developed one by one and applied on paper. The dramatically improved and computerized version of this remarkable process was introduced by EverColor Corporation in the early 1990s. Extremely light stable pigments developed recently for automobile industry were chosen by the researchers over the traditional ones. Tests have shown that these pigment prints are far more stable than conventional dye-image color prints and indicate that under typical indoor display conditions they may last for more than 500 years before noticeable image fading . By comparison, most conventional (dye based) color photographs, lithographs and ink-jet prints displayed under the same conditions will show fading in ten to twenty years.

The EverColor Pigment Transfer Print is available in sizes to 19.5"x24   printed on a specially designed archival white polyester base.

Ultrastable prints can be printed on fine art watercolor papers or on a white polyester base. 100% Cotton Fiber, acid-free, gelatin-coated paper is used to produce prints on paper. The pigment films are available from Bostick & Sullivan (http://www.bostick-sullivan.com).

ULTRASTABLE INKJET CANVAS
The premier choice for IRIS, ColorSpan, and Epson fine-art printmakers, UltraStable InkJet Canvas has the longest display life of any canvas as it also exhibits the largest color gamut of any fine art print media. Its unique gelation emulsion is flexible to allow for crack-free mounting on stretcher bars and easy use on either wide format, or desktop printers.
The UltraStable Canvas is available at
www.inkjetmall.com/store/ultrastable.htm

EverColor Luminage™ Direct-Digital Printing Process with the print life expectancy of 60 years. This is rated as the one color photographic print material with the longest life on the market today. Luminage Prints are often used as proofs for The EverColor Pigment Transfer Prints.
Luminage Prints are available in sizes from 8"x10" up to 50"x50," and any size in between, on two different photographic surfaces, glossy or matte.

Artagraph ( www.artagraph.com.au/ )
The Artagraph is three dimensional process which recreates not only the color of the original on the canvas, but also the surface texture in every detail.

First, the laser scanner accurately reproduces the exact colors of the original painting onto an oil base film.
Then an acrylic mixture is added onto the color copy. A technician adds the accurate brushstrokes and surface texture of the original work.
After that a silicone mold is made from the surface texture. At the end, the color film, the textured mold, and a specially treated canvas are heated together at a very high temperature in a compression oven and then cooled off.
The resulting Artagraphs are very accurate replications in their depiction of brushstrokes and texture incomparable with any other method. The major drawback is that the Artagraph process is very expensive.

DTi  www.tdi.com.au - Modern Master oil painting system was  actually a plotter which TDi adopted for oil based inks or paints. It could paint directly on canvas (size up to 36" x 48"). Since TDi is no longer in business it is not clear if Modern Master technology will be further developed by other companies. For  information call (800) 800-2656

Dye Sublimation

MD-5000 www.alpsusa.com  For $550 or so, you can afford to buy this excellent printer. MD-5000 is actually 3 printers in one. With the optional Dye-sublimation kit, you'll be printing astonishing true photo quality prints on a special glossy paper. They really look like photographs even under the magnifying glass. At any time you may change cartridges and print with more economical wax inks on a regular paper with an astounding 2400 DPI output. MD-5000 will also print with high gloss gold or silver foil. Great for color proofs and presentations. Print sizes up to 11" x 8".

Offset Lithography

Waterless www.waterless.org   Waterless printing is an offset lithographic printing process which is based on the discovery that the printing plate coated with silicon rubber rejects printing inks under certain temperature. Thus, water dampening used in conventional offset printing is no longer needed.

The advantages of Waterless printing over the conventional offset process are:
much higher resolution, cleaner and sharper image with more details, and much deeper colors.

How waterless printing works www.waterless.org/overview/howItWorks.htm

Find a waterless printshop  www.waterless.org/findPrinter/findPrinter.asp

Alternative and Rare Processes

In 1852, Fox Talbot used animal gelatin in combination with dichromate. He observed that the dichromated colloid hardened in proportion to its exposure to sunlight, and applied the principle to an early photogravure process. This work formed the basis for many later photographic and photomechanical processes. In 1894, A. Rouille-Ladevez redefined the process, producing prints for an exhibition at the Photo-Club de Paris. His work inspired photographers whose pictorial work derived from Impressionism in fine art, and great use was made of the gum bichromate process as a method of producing the painterly images so characteristic of turn-of-the-century art photography.

Fotempera (developed by Peter Charles Fredrick) - what a combination of the world's oldest painting medium and bichromate photo process !!! All you need to do is to mix the whole egg with the pigment and make it light sensitive by adding a solution of ammonium dichromate. Then apply the emulsion on canvas, board or paper, dry it, put the negative on and expose it to light. Develop your print in a water bath with a soft brush, let it dry for several days and put on new layers. Finish it by hand with egg tempera or oil paints. Still not  good enough for the museums? Put on some gold leaf.

Collotype: this is a very fine commercial photo-realistic ink printing process which is based on the fact that gelatin layer sensitized with ammonium dichromate  loses its ability to absorb water after it is exposed to the light and becomes receptive to the lithographic inks. Since its discovery in 1854 in France, collotype remained an important method of fine printing until recent years.  The tonal subtlety has made it the perfect medium for the reproduction of drawings, watercolors, photographs and even oil or egg tempera paintings. Several works of Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell were reproduced as collotypes by Triton Press and Black Box Collotype. Collotype's gelatin printing surface has a distinctive and unique network of  a very fine curving cracks, similar in kind to aquatint grain.  Human fingerprints, this unique pattern, can play a role in  I.D. when the print's authenticity is under the question. Unfortunately, it seems like only very few enthusiasts on the planet still practice this rewarding process.

Albertype, artotype, autogravure, autotype, heliotype, hygrotype, photogelatine, phototype, photolithographie, phototint are different manes for collotype.

Bromoil is an old, and once almost forgotten process that allows to produce an oil color image on a silver bromide paper print. A print made on a non-supercoated paper is treated in a dichromated bleach solution. The bleaching bath hardens the gelatin in proportion to the amount of silver present. The print is washed in water, swelling the gelatin into a relief matrix that will accept greasy ink in the shadow and mid-tone areas, but repel it in the highlights. After drying and soaking in water the image can be inked up with a special brush or a soft rubber roller.
Bromoil Transfer.  If desired, the inked image can be transferred to a different paper or gessoed mesonite board.  This technique allows you to produce multicolored Bromoil Transfers since you can use as many color separated matrixes as you'd like.
Bromoil kit and supplies can be purchased at  LUMINOS Photo Co.  for under $95.00
In Europe try Silverprint Co.

Gum Bichromate Process is similar to Fotempera or Albumen printing, the only difference being, is that gum arabic is used instead of the whole egg or albumen.

Gumoil is a reversed and modified process of Gum Bichromate printing, created in 1990 by photographer Karl P. Koenig. Positive is used for printing on clear unpigmented gum arabic bichromate emulsion. Unexposed portions are washed off with water. Oil paints are rubbed in to the dry print. Places which are covered with the exposed gum emulsion reject oil paints well and the uncovered areas of the paper absorb oil colors.

Albumen process  was the basis for developing Fotempera. The difference is that the light sensitive emulsion for Albumen printing is prepared without egg yolk. Fine artists have been using albumen for along time.Cennino Cennini in his The "Libro dell’Arte" mentions the use of egg white or "glair" as a binder for pigments and as a varnish. Albumen is a relatively pure mixture of numerous proteins dispersed in water. After drying and aging, the albumen layer becomes susceptible to cracking and discoloration.

Introduction to Lithography and Etching

Litho Sketch
Exploring the possibilities of a traditional stone or metal lithography on very affordable paper plates, is great way of trying this old and respectable technique. Although you can not expect to have a large number of prints from each plate it is still a lot of fun.
Order Litho Sketch kit and plates from  NASCO Arts & Crafts.

Water Etch
For your first etchings try acidless light-sensitive etching plates with steel backing.   They are easy to use. Make a drawing on tracing paper or make a Xerox copy of a drawing  on acetate, put it on the printing plate and expose it to light. Rinse printing plate with water, re-expose it to light and let it dry out. Now it's ready for   intaglio or relief printing. Artists can use it for printing unique small size editions which can be also used  as special greeting and "thank you" cards for their most important collectors.
Order Water Etch plates from Daniel Smith catalog or NASCO Arts & Crafts.

Low cost  high quality  offset printing

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