@xin-li said in Printing on Arches cold press watercolor paper?:
@idid Thank you for sharing your process. I could not figure out if the printer has a thick paper setup, I have checked all the setting options on the printer software, no luck.
How do you transfer the sketch from acid-paper to watercolor paper? Currently, I use graphite
@BichonBistro thanks for the tip about pigmented inks. I considered buying a new printer. The big issue for me is the maintenance of the high-endish printers. I have heard Epson supercolor p600 (or similar printers) is very good for the purpose I have in mind, but it requires almost printing every day to keep it unclogged. Do you have a similar experience with your printers?
Currently, I am trying with a printer that is lying around in my studio (in an artist collective). I was hoping to get it to work for me, but no luck so far.
My epson printheads have gotten clogged when I did not use it for several months, but I came across a guy who is an expert on printers (Jose Rodriquez) and he has a private facebook group (https://m.facebook.com/groups/1915547415436501/?source=create_flow) where I downloaded what he calls a random purge file. (He is a good resource for information about printers you may be considering). By printing that file regularly (he recommends a few days a week), you can avoid clogs. It causes each of the printheads to fire without using a lot of ink. Epson includes cleaning software, but the clean cycle uses a LOT of ink.
Sometimes just printing this file a few times will unclog the printheads, but if you print it a few times a week (I use hammermill 8.5x11 cardstock for this), it will keep the print heads unclogged. I haven't had to do any complicated maintenance and I have had the Epson 2200 for 17 years.
I don't use it heavily, though. I rarely do prints anymore, so it's mainly to transfer sketches to watercolor paper.
Here is that purge printheads file from Jose Rodriguez