I paint silly pictures on my computer on occasion, and out of the blue someone wants to actually pay me for some of them. Well, the jokes on them when they sober up, but I would like to give them something that doesn’t fade like my inkjet is prone to do after several months.
What are my options? Can I apply a sealant to the printouts from an inkjet? (that does’t sound like a good idea.) Are there special printers? Is this something a local print shop would have?
Thanks.
You could print and then laminate the paper?
Lots of photo developing places develop digital photos. I don’t know how much it would cost though.
Heh. You could put it on a disk, and print it on a demo printer at your local computer store. 
You might be able to find a photo shop that has a Fuji Pictrography printer. Those outputs should last as long as a standard color photo print because the mechanism (chemistry) is identical. It’s expensive though. (Around $15 for an 8x10 print. The printer itself costs as much as a new car, I believe.)
Lysonic Archival Ink is claimed to give substantialy better fade resistance when used on archival quality paper. I’ll bet they are expensive though.
try printing on epson archival matte paper.we use this with our 6 colour epson printer at work for stuff that has to last, and it hasnt done bad.
alternatively, use a proper lithography studio and get a proper proof done. it’ll cost you big time, but may be able to offset this against what the guys going to pay you for the art in the first place- you want it to last, you gotta pay the price unfortunately
Hmm…my father used a printing shop to make what were essentially copies of a painting my Grandfather did.
It was a special process that simulaed the texture & appearance of an oil-painted canvass.
Check your printing shops.
I’ve been very happy with the Epson 2200. It uses a 7 cartridge, pigment based ink system that claims 80 year longevity (better than any standard photographic processing which is generally rated at 50 years). From a 35mm negative it will print an 8x10 that it on par with chemical based photoprocessing. Think it retails for about $600 now.
that’s because it was a canvas. If you happen to have your own darkroom, you can do it too. There are kits you can buy that can apply a photographic emulsion to nearly any surface and then use an enlarger to print your photos onto it.
Archival type inks are found on the lower end printers now. The Epson C-82 is around $150 and uses the archival inks (theyre water resistant too). Epson claims 75 years for color fastness. I own one and the output isnt too bad either. You can do better for a couple hundred more. I actually have 2 - 8 by 10 photos of the same image in front of me right now. One done on the C-82 and one done on a more expensive photo printer. The colors are a little different on each but the detail is about the same (holding them at 18 inches from the eye).
Epson Archival Matte is no longer called Archival. If you want decent photo-quality prints, make sure your file is large enough (enough pixels) and upload it to a service like www.ofoto.com and then print it like a digital photo.
To print at home, you’ll get what you pay for. Read the info at www.inkjetart.com to learn about printer longevity. I have an Epson 2200, it’s amazing. Set me back US$800, however. Some home printers may work well depending on the ink and paper you choose, but not well if you choose wrong. Again, inkjetart.com is nice about this info. Also, many pics that look ok now, will yellow or orange-shift in a year or so. All photos do, of course, but the higher-end digital desktop printers by epson, will last over 40 years, some even to 100 (it is believed at last…).
fudge. this board drives me nuts sometimes. I just typed in a long response and it vanished. I guess the value derived per dollar spent is still way up there though.
The gist of the post was, “thanks everyone for the great responses.”
Thanks, ticker, paulberserker, pipper, whuckfistle, and drhess for the suggestions on using archival paper and ink. I’m very interested in this option, as I could print stuff on a moments notice. I notice everyone has mentioned Epson, and all the links lean towards Epson as well. But does the printer really matter (as far as permanent printing goes)? I assume all the magic is in the paper and ink. I have an HP that I’m happy with quality-wise. Has anyone had experience printing permanently on HP? Also, a cursory Google search shows there’s a ton of options out there as far as paper goes. Anyone have any experience they want to share on this? Are some papers better then others in your experience?
I’ve talked to the local Kinko’s and they don’t have the printer mentioned by scr4; the best they can do is a standard laser printer. I’ll call a few others.
drhess, I don’t know why I didn’t think about ofoto, as I know the former CEO there. I particularly like that option when time isn’t critical since they can print much larger images then I can at home.
Finally, the technique discussed by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor and Q.E.D. is very interesing, and though it’s not right for this project, I appreciate hearing about it. I want to try working with that at some point.
Ok, this time, I’m copying the post just in case before hitting submit.
We take all our photos with a digital camera, and when it comes time to store them, I’d rather have them printed in a lab. Even though our printer is good, the photo quality paper is really expensive, so if I did it at home it would be at lower quality and greater cost.
You probably don’t want the same kind of finish as I do for my photos, but never assume that it will be cheaper to do it yourself. Price it out first.
hey, if you know the former ceo at ofoto, send some coupons my way. that’s the system i use to let family buy my fotos all the time.
regarding EPSON, you must use epson inks with, at least, the Epson 2200, and Epson papers with those special inks get more longevity. the inks won’t work on others, i guess you could get mass quantities some how and do it, but and i don’t know of another printer that has the ability to do extra black, cyan and magenta (all light versions to pair with the regular cmyk four-color to make 7 inks) that epson uses. again, www.inkjetart.com is the place to read up. you can also call them for a short chat, but not a “what do i do??” kinda chat.
bottom line: for desktop printer Epson 2200 is best. cheaper that the 2200 is the 1280 (or whatever number it is) from Epson.
oh, also some printers allow you do to do watercolor, some don’t and some printers print at different maximum widths. even if you don’t want to print large prints, the width allows you to sheets that can have oddles of prints on them, and then you cut them up, saving paper costs…