We're driving down the cost of ownership and increasing the ecological responsibilities of our customers.

InkjetMall in the blogs, our new 4900 cartridge is now in production, ConeColor® PRO in full release, Product Instructions, Epson 7900/9900 User Woes, From Russia with Love, Extreme Papermaking, Digital Carbon Tintypes, dMax, SUMMER PIEZO FLUSH SALE (coupon)!!

Are you keeping up with all our news?

We've redesigned another cartridge. This time it's for the Epson 4900 printer.

This is a very sturdy refillable cart in comparison to the sets that have recently hit the market. And the chip is very steady. We worked long and hard to have a stable product that joins the rank of our in-house developed R3000 refillable carts, and the bag filled 350ml carts for the Epson Pro 7700/9700, 7890/9890, 7900/9900 printers.

The new 4900 cartridge is in production now and we will have for sale in just a few weeks.

You can read more about it here.

ConeColor PRO inks are now in full release. This ink has the same color gamut as our first generation ConeColor inks. We improved the formulation for better glossiness and dMax on non-matte media. If you are currently a ConeColor customer, you can ease ConeColor PRO into your workflow without having to make new ICC profiles. You can continue to use the EPSON ICC profiles or our profile library. We've update the library recently for the R3000 and the Pro 7900/9900.

Instructions and Product Use

We noticed recently that a lot of technical support was coming from customers who had never referred to the instructions for the products they purchased from us. We spend a lot of time on these instructions. We hate reading instructions ourselves. But, many of our products can be installed incorrectly and that can be not only frustrating to our customers, but also expensive if the product can not be salvaged.

The delay in supporting customers because they were unfamiliar with the basics of the products use made me write a blog article on how to help us help you quicker. We find that those who first read the instructions, then install, and then need help get resolved very quickly. Those who did not read the instructions before installing and needed help were disadvantaged by the way they asked for help - because they simply were too unfamiliar with what they had done. So here is a way to even ask for help so we can help you faster! It can make the difference between a same day resolve and a several day resolve.

Epson 7900/9900 user Woes

We actually had our own negative experience with a brand new Epson 7900 printer that was delivered to us more than a year ago. It required two service visits to finish the initial install of Epson inks. We had a head replaced on the first visit followed by a second head replacement and circuit boards. We thought it was an isolated incidence. It apparently is not. The various users groups are now filled with complaints about the short life of print heads in these printers.

We are happy to report that we have not heard of any incidences with ConeColor ink users, but this does not mean that our ink is an improvement over the OEM when used in an Epson 7900/9900.

Please read the blog posting and take our advice to extend your warranty or buy a warranty for this printer model. My opinion is that this product line with it's new coated print head is not as reliable as the Epson 7600/9600 line was. The 7600/9600 heads were one of my all-time favorite. I believe that with any ink installed, this print head is not going to have as long a life as has been experienced with previous printer lines. I formed that opinion by reading the blogs and the incredible woes that are being experienced and reported on the public forums.

From Russia with Love

Read the letter from Michael Yoshpa, Ph.D., Project Coordinator for “Future Now” - a multifaceted project aimed at creating, testing and implementing an innovative methodology of educating and facilitating the integrative development of young people in Russia.

InkjetMall donated ConeColor inks and the Summer Camp program ran gas powered generators to power the digital print program.

Cone Editions continues to print Piezography inks on Extremely thick handmade papers

I absolutely love this paper. Now we are producing an exhibition for Andrea Zini from his Africa wildlife photography. I have this paper handmade for me in Japan. This is similar to the paper that I used for the AshesandSnow.com exhibitions.

For Andrea we are making panorama sized sheets of 24"x60" on which I will completely overprint right past the feathery deckles. I am using a 12 ink Roland printer outfitted with Piezography and other custom inks. The paper is preheated to 50c.

I recently had some round 31" paper made - and it is waiting for the right customer to come along who produces round artwork or round photographs. You can e-mail me at my studio address if you like joncone (at) cone-editions (dot) com. I think that it will make for an amazing black&white or color project. I have 20 sheets!

Digital Carbon Tintypes with Bonny Lhotka

I began teaching digital printmaking workshops in 1992. I gave one at the Massachusetts College of Art where I installed an IRIS 3047 inkjet printer and I taught how to do inkjet transfers. That workshop was called "Beyond The Digital Print" and Bonny Lhotka was one of my students.

If you do not know of Bonny, she is quite famous for her Digital Art Studio Seminars. I would say she is the most knowledgeable person concerning how to transfer inkjet from film to the surface of just about anything - and I do mean "anything".

I took a workshop with her recently in Boulder, Colorado where I learned how to make digital tintypes. I just can't praise Bonny enough, nor the workshop experience I had. Read about it here.

dMax!

What can be said about dMax that has not already been said.

When I tackled this topic on Piezography - it turns out to be quite a lot. I hope you find it an interesting read. By the way, this topic was on the request of several readers who asked for more coverage on the topic.

PiezoFlush SUMMER SALE!

Summer is nearly upon us which means for many of you that it's time to turn off the printers for a few months. If you have to leave yours off for more than three weeks, we advise that you fill the print heads (of desktop printers) and the ink lines, dampers and print heads of large format printers with our PiezoFlush™ solution.

PiezoFlush is not a clear ink base that has been stained with pink dye. While that's an ok solution as a flushing fluid to change from one ink formulation to another - it's not the same as the safe solvent system of the aqueous PeizoFlush which we formulate ourselves right here in East Topsham, VT. PiezoFlush is strong enough to be used as a cleaning fluid and safe enough for long term storage. And that makes it the best flushing fluid that you can buy.

We're offering 15% off and free USA UPS Ground Shipping on PiezoFlush and sets of empty refillable cartridges for both small format and large format printers. Please use this coupon for 15% savings: SUMMERFLUSH when you checkout on our website. The coupon code expires on June 30, 2012. But, in the meantime the coupon will take 15% off of refillable cartridge sets (which you can find here) and bottles of PiezoFlush (which you can find here).

For larger institutions we will have 5 liter easy dispense containers of PiezoFlush in just a week. So please contact us for pricing. It's a very economical way to buy. If you have a fleet of Epson printers, you can use one set of cartridges and remove them when you shut down each printer one by one. Move the carts to the next and repeat. Refill as you go... For not much money, you can shut down an entire department. When you're ready to print again at the end of the Summer - just insert the ink carts and perform enough Power Cleans to move fresh ink to the print heads. It's that simple!

What you want to do is fill up a set of refillable carts with some PiezoFlush. A little goes a long way.... For desktops you need only about 10ml in a cartridge so you can get by with a 4oz(125ml) or 8oz(250ml) bottle. But for large format you will use at least 20ml of fluid in the power clean operation. So consider a purchase of at least 32oz.

For desktop after you install, two head cleanings and a nozzle check will confirm that the heads are now filled with PiezoFlush. You can safely turn off your printer. For the large format printers you will need to perform 2-3 power cleanings before you will notice a nozzle check with pink fluid. Then its safe to turn off your printer. If you are responsible for a fleet of printers, one set of carts will work in a number of printers that are of the same model... so no need to buy 3 sets of 4880 carts because you have three 4880 printers. After confirming the pink nozzles - shut the printer down and move the carts to the next printer. When you return, you simple reinstall your ink carts - perform the same amount of power cleans until you confirm ink at the nozzles - and print! You'll thank us both that you PiezoFlushed your printer before shutting it down for the Summer.

Piezography Workshop Opportunity in Santa Fe: reminder - only two more seats remain.

MakingArtSafely
7506 A Old Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe, NM 87505-9538
(505)-780-0920

Jon Cone: Piezography Masterful Prints, Masterful Life

Use Add to Cart button below to make $150.00 deposit

Jon Cone is already well known for his Piezography ink jet printing process, setting a standard in quality and fidelity that Canon, Epson and HP have yet to reach. However, Piezography has come a long way and Jon is not one to sit on past accomplishments. So come ready to expand your horizons for what ink jet can do for your portfolio expectations. And come hungry. When Jon is here we like food here. There’s a persistent rumor that Jon will bring his 40” paella pan and teach how to make paella outdoors in Santa Fe’s wonderful weather.

With a mastery of Piezography, not only will you be able to exceed the B&W limitations of Epson’s ABW but with new ink sets and technology you can make transparencies for silver halide darkroom prints, gorgeous platinum and palladium prints, or any other type of print that requires a transparency. Jon will take you from basics to mind blowing in five days. If inkjet is not in your future studio growth, Jon will teach you how to prepare and pre-visualize your files for output from the growing list of Piezography printing providers across the Country.

In addition to working at Boy Fish Press, the studio of MakingArtSafely, we will take a field trip to Bostick and Sullivan, after which we will make some alternative prints using Cone Piezography transparencies. This workshop will take you to new places for your photographic printing.

Prerequisites: Artists who have experience in photography and digital.

Faculty: Jon started as a photographer who could not resist alternative process and was drawn to printmaking. As a Master Printer, he printed serigraphy, intaglio, monoprint and relief in a painterly style before being drawn back into photography via Fox Talbot’s method of aquatint-photogravure. Jon established Cone Editions Press in 1980 and in 1984 it became the world's first digital printmaking studio. He has continually been providing innovative collaborative printmaking for artists and photographers around the world.

He's been a printer to Gordon Parks as well as Richard Avedon. He spent the years 2005-2008 in New York City with photographer Gregory Colbert where Cone printed the monumental scale Ashes and Snow projects for the Nomadic Museum. Cone designed both the methodology and inks for the Avedon and Colbert projects. And it is mostly ink-making where Cone is recognized among black & white photographers. His Piezography inks and software have been used by more than 10,000 photographers to date.

"Being able to manifest technology has always benefited my printmaking, yet I only develop techniques because of inspiration drawn from those I’ve selected to print for. I’ve always shared my techniques through education believing it the most gratifying manifestation of experience." Cone established the first digital printmaking workshops in the early 1990s and trained the first wave of professional print studios for IRIS Graphics in the mid-1990s. He's taught inkjet printmaking in places as far away as the Royal College of Art in London, and as locally as in his own studio in East Topsham, Vermont. This will be the first workshop in which a holistic approach to all possible permeations of Piezography has been presented.

Dates: October 8-12, 2012
Registration: $699.00: 5 days
Deposit: $150.00

use this PayPal button to make your deposit directly to Making Art Safely Workshops

Customer Reviews is now live at InkjetMall

We've added some tabbed functionality to the website when you drill down on items. You will see Customer Reviews and we encourage you to add your own. So far everyone (save a few) have been very positive in their reviews about the products we sell. We think they're the best, but it really comes down to user experience. We pride ourselves on technical support. Below is a screen grab of the more info screen of an item on the website. Please review the products you use! Just go to your favorite product and click on the more product info link for it. It will bring you to the Reviews section.

Please feel free to write me with any comments or suggestions.

Happy Printing!

Best regards,

Jon Cone
President
InkjetMall
17 Powder Spring Road
East Topsham, Vermont
(802) 439-3127

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