Printing

Printers and Ink

RHPS operates a suite of large format inkjet printers, each with unique capabilities.

Epson SureColor P9000 — Colour. Our workhorse printers are the Epson P9000, and we have several of them in service. With a 44″ carriage width, they support the majority of our colour and B&W printing workflows. Matte and glossy colour prints are made with P9000 printers running the genuine Epson UltraChrome HDX 10-colour pigment inks. These printers also can produce great B&W matte and glossy prints.

Epson SureColor P9000 — Piezography. For truly exceptional B&W works on matte or glossy papers, we run Epson P9000 printers converted to the Piezography dual-K5 carbon inkset. In these printers, the standard colour inks have been replaced with pure carbon inks designed by Jon Cone. There are 5 carbon shades with cool toning, 5 shades with warm toning, plus a clear gloss enhancer for glossy prints. The unique printing system allows us to create specialized ink mixes ranging from fully cool-toned, through neutral, to fully warm-toned, with a practically infinite range of mixes in between. Piezography prints are breathtakingly beautiful, and also exceed the most demanding longevity requirements. This is the current state of the art for B&W prints, and is a “must” experience for any visual artist working in monochrome.

Epson Stylus Pro 11880. For extra-large prints, RHPS runs Epson 11880 64″ printers with the genuine Epson UltraChrome K3 ink. This extra-wide printer truly established the foundation of modern fine art inkjet printing. To this day, it produces exceptional colour and B&W prints on matte or glossy paper that satisfy a tremendous range of aesthetic and technical needs for personal, commercial and fine art prints.

HP Designjet Z3200ps. For certain applications, we also operate HP Z3200ps 44″ large format printers. Though several generations older now, this venerable model uses HP’s Vivera inkset. Vivera ink originally set and still maintains a very high bar for digital pigment ink quality and longevity. Prints from the HP Z3200ps still meet high standards, including for public and commercial gallery work.

Papers

Paper is the foundation of print. Choices in paper can make the difference between work that is simply competent vs. work that is elevated. As such, RHPS maintains a significant inventory of excellent papers, with many more available as needed for specific client projects.

Honestly, we love paper. In fact, we could be accused of obsessing over it! If you’re interesting in a print medium that will bring something distinctive to your project, talk to us.

Our print media fall into 5 broad categories: standard photo inkjet papers, fine art inkjet papers, specialty inkjet media, inkjet canvas, and specialty non-inkjet papers / media.

Currently, our standard photo inkjet papers include:

• Epson: Metallic Photo Paper Glossy, Metallic Photo Paper Luster
• Ilford: Galerie Smooth Gloss, Galerie Smooth Pearl

Stocked fine art inkjet papers currently include:

• Canson glossy: Baryta Photographique, Baryta Prestige, Platine Fibre Rag
• Canson matte: Aquarelle Rag, Edition Etching Rag, PrintMaking Rag, Rag Photographique, Velin Museum Rag
• Hahnemühle glossy: Baryta FB, Fine Art Baryta, Fine Art Baryta Satin, Fine Art Pearl, Photo Gloss Baryta, Photo Rag Baryta, Photo Rag Metallic, Photo Rag Pearl
• Hahnemühle matte: Museum Etching, Photo Rag, Photo Rag Bright White, Photo Rag Satin, Torchon, William Turner
• Hahnemühle natural: Agave, Bamboo, Hemp, Sugar Cane
• Ilford glossy: Gold Fibre Silk
• Ilford matte: Cotton Artist Textured, Matt Cotton Medina, Smooth Cotton Rag, Smooth Cotton Sonora, Textured Cotton Rag
• Innova matte: Etching Cotton Rag, Fabriano Artistico Watercolour Rag, Fabriano Printmaking Rag, Photo Cotton Rag
• Moab glossy: Juniper Baryta Rag
• Moab matte: Entrada Rag Bright, Entrada Rag Natural, Entrada Rag Textured, Somerset Museum Rag

Specialty inkjet media are those that fall outside the range of typical papers in some way, but are designed for inkjet printing. Currently these include:

• Alternative Photo Supply: Vellum
• Awagami: Kozo Thick washi, Unryu Thin washi
• Hiromi: Asuka Pure White washi, Asuka Natural washi
• Ilford: Washi Torinoko
• Jacquard: Silk, cotton and other fabrics
• Pictorico: Transparency Film

We do offer prints on inkjet canvas! Our primary stocked canvases include:

• Breathing Color matte: Lyve Canvas
• Epson glossy: Exhibition Canvas Satin

Specialty non-inkjet papers / media are where things can get very interesting, especially for visual arts where the physical materials play an important role in the presentation of the work. Options here typically are traditional art papers that we have found to be interesting for digital print. Current examples include:

• Hahnemühle: Bamboo Mixed Media
• Hiromi: Gampi White, Kinwashi, Kozo Thick
• Legion: India Hemp, Kochi washi

Have we mentioned that we love paper? (And many non-paper print media, too.) If you have a favourite paper that you don’t see listed above, or would like to experiment with something new, feel free to talk to us. We may have stock of other media not listed here, and are always interested in trying new things that can bring something distinctive to print work.

Print Sizing

RHPS prints are not limited to standard sizes. Prints can be made any size, limited only by what the printer and specific paper will support. For smaller prints (up to 16 x 20″) we can print on cut sheets or roll-fed paper. A few papers are available in cut sheet formats up to 35 x 46″, but generally larger prints must be printed from rolls.

Pragmatically, the minimum economical print size is 12 x 12″ (i.e. 1 sq ft) since we specialize in high quality, large format printing. The maximum print size is 44″ wide (on the 44″ printers) or 60 – 64″ wide (on the 64″ printers). And then however long is required for the image in question. Note that many inkjet paper rolls are not made wider than 44″; check with us for paper details on extra-large prints. Also note that some specialty roll come only in a single size, often an unusual width such as 38″ or 50″.

Print pricing notes:

• There is a minimum charge per print of 1 sq ft. This minimum may be waived in the case of making multiple small prints that fit well on larger sheets or rolls.
• There is a minimum order of $100.
• There is a rush-order surcharge of 10% per order, $50 minimum rush charge.
• Images are presumed to be print-ready, unless otherwise noted in the submission. Basic retouching may be done to optimize a good file for the chosen paper & size. Retouching correct simple issues (cropping, cloning dust spots, other small tweaks) can be requested for a flat charge of $25 per image. More significant retouching & image development work is available at an hourly rate; see retouching.
• Prints made on any special-order papers must be fully paid in advance.
• Volume pricing options are available. If you have a project such as a portfolio or exhibition, or make a substantial volume of prints, we can prepare a quote for this. Please contact us for further information.