Our Inks & Print Media

Our printing services use only the best available archival materials to produce prints that are suitable for sale and exhibition, or simply display in your own home. Galleries and museums around the world now accept prints made with these materials, and in some cases prints made using these processes and materials now sell for higher prices than prints made with traditional photographic fine art printing methods (e.g. silver gelatin or c-type prints).

Information about the inks and media we use:

Epson's Ultrachrome K3 Inks

Epson's Ultrachrome K3 inks are pigment based and offer a very wide colour gamut, and deep velvety blacks. Independently verified longevity ratings indicate the lifespan of these inks (when used on high quality papers) meets or (in most cases) exceeds the longevity ratings of other common colour printing processes - over 100 years for colour and over 200 years for black and white prints before visible fading occurs. The testing methodology used to produce these figures is vigorous and accepted industry wide, and while no one can point to a 200 year old inkjet print just yet, the same methodologies that are used to evaluate display and storage conditions of the world's most valuable art works are now being applied to inkjet prints.

Printing with these inks allows us to make prints that are free from unwanted artifacts and flaws often found in colour processes such as bronzing and metamerism. With these inks we can achieve exceptionally high quality results on a broad range of media types, from high gloss to completely matte watercolour papers, and on materials like canvas as well. Stong blacks, rich shadow detail, and a broad, smooth colour gamut allow for prints of both tremendous subtlety and great power.

With three separate black inks, smooth and neutral black and whites are possible. On some papers, black densities now significantly exceed traditional chemistry papers, giving images of startling luminosity and depth.

We run two separate 24 inch printers here - one dedicated to gloss and semi-gloss papers, using the Photo Black inks which offers the deepest black on those surfaces. The second 24 inch printer is run using the Matte Black ink to achieve the best possible blacks on matte papers. Other services use only one ink for both groups of paper, and consequently do not achieve the same quality of results across all surfaces that we can achieve.

At the moment, with the 44 inch printer, we only use the matte black ink. If demand warrants it, we can swap to the gloss ink if required (for example you have an exhibition run), but there will be a fee for this to cover the wasted ink that occurs during a swap over.

Hahnemuehle Photo Rag

The best truly matte fine art inkjet media in the world! This paper offers unmatched d-max (black density) and colour gamut. The surface is a lovely smooth matte finish, and the weight/rigidity of the paper at 308 gsm is excellent. The surface has a very slight texture (in fine art terms it is a smooth paper) - just enough texture to give the paper itself a little life, but not enough to impair image detail in any way. Papers don't come better than this, and if you haven't tried it yet you're in for a real treat!

Made from 100% cotton rag, and designed to last several centuries, this paper has been independently tested by Wilhelm Imaging Research in combination with the Epson Ultrachrome K3 inkset and in both colour and black and white offers longevity figures (for properly cared for prints) as good as anything in the industry.

Key features

Hahnemuehle Torchon

Hahnemuehle Torchon is the textured equivalent of Hahnemeuhle Photo Rag, with a classic water colour textured surface. A Torchon paper is one that is quite rigid and has an irregular texture. This paper is perfect for fine-art applications such as artwork reproduction and card making, and suits prints particularly well that rely on mood rather than fine details (think foggy morning shots, forest scenes, that sort of thing). This paper can add a real feel of hand made quality to your work (that can help drive sales!).

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Crane Portfolio Rag

Crane's new archival matte paper is 100% cotton rag - and a serious alternative to something like Hahnemuhle's venerable Photo Rag, the king of this market. The two papers offer print quality that is uncanninly similar.

Crane Portfolio Rag is very smooth (distinctly smoother than Photo Rag), and contains absolutely no optical brighteners. And it's is actually a little brighter in tone than Photo Rag!

Since Photo Rag first appeared years ago, many papers have tried to match it, but this is quite frankly the first serious alternative! Excellent colours and d-max bring great print quality to the table. Well worth a try!

Key Features:

Crane Silver Rag

Crane's Silver Rag is a remakable new paper - the first of its kind. A 100% cotton paper that accepts the photo black ink and thus allows for incredibly rich blacks and a simply stunning tonal range. Black and white prints on this paper bear an uncanny resemblance to traditional silver gelatin prints on Agfa classic fibre based paper, while colour prints offer tremendous depth and luminosity reminiscent of dye-transfer prints.

The surface has a low level of pleasant sheen, even across both printed and non-printed areas. In the old language, it would be an n-type surface, and it really is a dead ringer for classic fibre based prints. If you're after high impact, fully archival black and white prints, this is the paper we would recommend.

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Canson PhotoSatin

Instant drying semi-gloss paper with excellent gamut and strong blacks. Excellent resistance to marking. Extremely sharp.

This paper is a much nicer alternative to papers like Ilford Smooth Pearl and Epson Premium SemiGloss. It's lower level of sheen gives it a far classier appearance and the print quality it offers is second to none in this domain - sharp, punchy, yet still capable of very sublte results. It's the perfect paper for classic portrait, wedding and album work.

It's so good we personally use it for all our day to day photo printing.

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Canson Canvas

Canson Canvas is a wonderful product that combines a truly photographic inkjet coating with a true artists canvas. The canvas is a cotton artists canvas weighing in at 340 gsm. It is completely acid and optical brightener free, for truly archival results. You can stretch this canvas just as with normal canvas. The coating is matte, but you can varnish with classic gel mediums (or use inkjet specific archival coatings) if you desire brush stroke or smooth varnish effects. Canson Canvas is amazingly robust, standing up to regular handling and cleaning.

Canson Canvas is the best inkjet canvas on the market, bar none. Alternatives used by consumer oriented printing services like Breathing Colour and Tetenal are just not in the same league. We specifically target the high end, fine art market. Other services also use cheaper, aftermarket inks (such as Media Street inks) which have not been as extensively tested as the Ultrachrome K3 inks and do not offer the same qualities of longevity, gamut and black density.

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Magic Self-Adhesive Vinyl

Perhaps not quite in the same league as our other options, but capable of high quality results and useful none the less.

These prints can be fixed to just about anything, including as book covers, signs, wall coverings, furniture, you name it. All you need is a relatively flat surface, and you simply peel off the backing and stick. The print quality is very good and the prints are very durable, capabe of withstanding significant outdoor exposure. The vinyl is totally matte, so offers very low glare properties, but you can of course laminate the prints to achieve gloss should you desire it.

These prints are only available from a 24 or 44 inch roll, we do not offer sheet printing on vinyl.

Key features