First .... The need to use the "black only" setting with an HP printer that uses the Vivera ink is patently false.
Second ... The experimental transfer film provided by Tim Wells should be compared with the Epson film, that is, with the film that Transfer Magic was originally designed to work with.
For anyone interested in acquiring a
current and readily available printer that works ... the HP 5580 All-in-one is $139.00 at Staples. It uses the following cartridges: a #74 Vivera black and a #75 color. It works with XP, Vista, MAC and Linux. It also has a limited Windoze 2000 driver for network printing only. If you're as biga fan as I am of monopolistic marketing companies that just happen to sell problematic products on the side ... you might get it just for the Linux driver
.
The following images were transferred to a steel plate polished to 800 grit and are the following (left to right):
1. The original image I used which was scanned from an early 19th Century book. I selected a line engraving illustration specifically because Brian Marshall found it particularly humorous.
2. A transfer, printed with composite black, on Epson film using an older HP Photosmart P1000. Some older HP printers do not use Vivera black cartridges (only standard black) but will accept a Vivera color cartridge. A successful transfer using "black only" with this printer is impossible.
3. A transfer, printed with "black only", on this experimental stuff using the currently available HP5580. A transfer using composite black with this printer produces (on the same film) lighter results that are workable for most images but are not suitable for transferring a high level of detail.
4. A transfer, printed with composite black, on the experimental stuff. This "test" was simply for my own personal amusement .... it actually kinda works.
Transfers with the Vivera ink composite black (using the color cartridge to produce black) are lighter but it does work. Transfers using the experimental stuff are significantly lighter all around but still very good as the comparison with the obsolete, Epson composite transfer illustrates.
It would be good to know when and where this "experimental" stuff is going to be made available.
As a side note. Mylar does not work at all with this level of detail and the 3M brand gave me 1 out of 3 transfers. That one being actually darker and better than the experimental transparency film. It's just a matter of consistent burnishing.