We print with historical photographic processes

We print with historical photographic printmaking processes because we love working with these processes. We have a large, multi-story studio that we established in 1980. We've printed some of the most important exhibitions in our time. Why you should have your work printed by us is because these processes have stood the test of time and we're the best at what we do.

Modern inkjet printing processes that have become popular today boast "100 years before fading", but they are based on the WIR3.0 testing methods that are embraced by Canon, EPSON, and HP which manufacture the printers and inks used in modern printing. The WIR3.0 method way too generously considers 35% fade to be the standard at which fade becomes noticeable. Humans begin to notice fading at 5%. At 100 years, these prints would be better served thrown away into a bin or recycled.

Below represents the 35% fade that these printer manufacturers consider to be "easily detectable" and at which they establish their 100 year rating "without fade". They make consumers believe that the prints produced will not fade for 100 years rather than informing them that the prints will fade 35% in 100 years. They do not publish when the prints actually begin to fade when humans detect 5%, because it would result in a much lower longevity rating.

What we believe you should be handing down is a photograph that can be continuously displayed and still be preserved for generations to come and will not fade 5%.

There are only three historical photographic processes that we know of that can stand the test of time without experiencing any human detectable fade. One of them we invented in 1994.

 

Our Platinum Print process first invented in 1873 by William Willis uses only pure platinum and palladium. We actually use a mixture of 60% platinum and 40% palladium. These noble metals cannot corrode, oxidize, nor mix with any other elements to become other compounds. They bond molecularly with the cotton paper on which we print. Our platinum prints will last for centuries without any visible fade. They are also considered to be the most beautiful black & white printmaking process ever invented, if not the most expensive to produce. They are characterized by a soft and deep depth of view produced by how light reflects back to eye from the platinum. There is no other photographic print process that is as lovely or precious as a hand-made plartinum print.

 

 

Our proprietary inkjet process Piezography® Carbon Print invented by Jon Cone in 1994 was fade tested by the Aardenburgh Imaging Institute in the longest test it ever conducted. No human perceptible fade occurred even after 200 megalux setting a new record for inkjet. Even by spectrophotomic measurement there was less than a deltaE 0.7 detected far below human vision. Humans perceive fade to begin at 5%. Aardenburg finally stopped the test to make room for other samples that could fade. Carbon has a half-life of 5,000 years. And Piezography Carbon is 100% pure carbon. It simply can not fade. Even diamonds are made of pure carbon and you know what they say about diamonds. They should be saying, “Carbon is forever.”

 

Our Photogravure Print process first invented in 1825 by Nicéphore Niépce (he also invented photography), is a photo-mechanical process in which we use only 100% carbon black ink to print your photographs. And as we mentioned, carbon with a half-life of 5000 years is one of the most durable elements on this planet. This process is distinctive in that the photograph is impressed deeply into printmaking paper leaving its tell-tale embossment around the image

 

These 3 process are quite different from one another.

Piezography Carbon is printed with special inkjet printers using eight different gradated shades of pure organic carbon black ink that are jetted one on top the other at 2880dpi producing tens of thousands more gray levels than the typical commercial inkjet print. We formulate our own inks and have written our own software for this method and we print only on archival papers.

Platinum printing is a darkroom process in which we hand coat the printing paper with platinum/palladium chemistry that we formulate ourselves. We apply the pure platinum/palladium to the paper, expose it through a digital negative we make ourselves, in an exposure machine we invented, and develop and clear the print. We can only use the purest paper for this process.

Photogravure is quite physical in that we have to create a metal plate in which your photographic image is etched in millions of tiny crevices which we hand rub an oil-based carbon ink into and carefully wipe clean leaving only the ink in the crevices which is impressed into dampened printmaking under enormous pressure in a hand cranked intaglio press.

We are also offering Piezography Multi-Tone printing on this site which is an inkjet system using a special ink set that combines carbon with color pigments to produce complex toning possibilities from warm to cool and / or split toning. While it does not have the fade resistance of Piezography Carbon, Piezography Multi-Tone prints will not fade within your lifetime. They are gorgeous and you can choose your toning. In terms of what happens to a Piezography Multi-Tone after a century of exposure is that the color toning will shift revealing the underlying carbon which can not fade. So, far into the future, your color toning will shift to a more monochromatic photograph. This contrasts with the warmth of Piezography Carbon which is not toned by color pigments but is the actual color of organic carbon and can not be affected by light.

 

If it all sounds hands on, it is. After you upload your precious images we treat them with respect and care while printing them with our precious processes. And we do it expeditiously and send them to you in archival storage packaging just in the case you want to store it for a few hundred years. We label it as precious archival material as a reminder. The archival packaging is encased in sturdy UPS/FedEx/USPS/DHL proof packaging.