Printing

Printers and Ink

RHPS operates a suite of large format inkjet printers, each with unique capabilities. Accuracy and quality are ensured through in-house custom colour profiling of all printers and papers.

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.

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 other potentially available as needed for specific client projects. Our benchmark paper vendors include Canson, Epson, Hahnemühle and Ilford.

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 uncoated (i.e. non-inkjet) papers / media.

Currently, our budget-friendly standard photo inkjet papers include:

• Metallic: Epson Metallic Photo Paper Glossy, Epson Metallic Photo Paper Luster
• High Gloss: Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss
• Luster: Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl, Canson Photo Lustre Premium RC, Epson Premium Luster
• Matte: Epson Enhanced Matte
• Japanese Washi: Hiromi Asuka Pure White, Hiromi Asuka Natural

Stocked fine art inkjet papers currently include:

• Canson glossy: Baryta Photographique, Baryta Prestige, Platine Fibre Rag
• Canson matte: Arches 88, Arches Aquarelle Rag, Arches BFK Rives Pure White, Arches BFK Rives White, Baryta Photographique Matt, Edition Etching Rag, Rag Photographique, Somerset Enhanced Satin, Somerset Enhanced Velvet, Somerset Enhanced Watercolor Rag
• Epson matte: Cold Press Natural, Cold Press Bright, Hot Press Natural, Hot Press Bright
• Hahnemühle glossy: Baryta FB, Fine Art Baryta, Fine Art Baryta Satin, Fine Art Pearl, Photo Rag® Baryta, Photo Rag® Metallic, Photo Rag® Pearl
• Hahnemühle matte: Museum Etching, Photo Rag®, Photo Rag® Bright White, Photo Rag® Matt Baryta, Photo Rag® Satin, Torchon, William Turner
• Hahnemühle natural glossy: Bamboo Gloss Baryta, Hemp Gloss Baryta
• Hahnemühle natural matte: Agave, Bamboo, Hemp, Sugar Cane
• Ilford matte: Cotton Artist Textured, Matt Cotton Medina, Smooth Cotton Rag, Smooth Cotton Sonora, Textured Cotton 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 Thin
• Awagami / Moab: Moenkopi Kozo Thick, Moenkopi Unryu Thin
• Hiromi: Niyodo
• Ilford: Washi Torinoko, Tesuki-Washi Echizen
• Pictorico: Transparency Film

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

• Glossy: Epson Exhibition Canvas Satin
• Matte: Epson Exhibition Canvas Matte

Uncoated art 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; papers imported Japan, Korea and elsewhere; and synthetic or other non-paper media that may take ink in interesting ways. Current examples include:

• Awagami: Kinwashi Kozo Extra Thick Natural, Kozo Extra Thick White, Shiramine
• Hahnemühle: Bamboo Mixed Media
• Hiromi: Kikura, Kinwashi White, Surface Gampi White, Mulberry Thick, Okawara
• 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. New papers are introduced all the time and we often bring them in to evaluate. We usually have stock of some 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 for a single print is 12 x 12″ (i.e. 1 sq ft) since we specialize in high quality, large format printing. However, we can lay out multiple small images (e.g. 4 x 6″ or 5 x 7″) on larger paper sheets or rolls for bulk print orders. This can be cost effective for clients and reasonably efficient for us.

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 rolls come only in a single size, often an unusual width such as 38″ or 50″.

Addition pricing policy 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. A rush order is any order with a delivery date that preempts other orders that we have already committed to, or where the delivery is needed faster than our standard turn-around time.
• 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; typically this is done at no cost. Retouching to correct common issues (cropping, removing sensor dust spots & hot pixels, correcting colour casts, improving image tonality, other small edits), 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, and are non-refundable.
• Volume pricing options are available. If you have a large order, a project such as a portfolio or exhibition, or make a substantial volume of prints over time, we can prepare a quote for this. Please contact us for further information.