Digital Prints

7
Choosing Your
Consumables
Anyone who does a lot of inkjet printing discovers very quickly that the consumable supplies
(ink and media) are important keys to the whole process. Not only are they typically
the most expensive aspect of digital printing in the long run, but the ink and paper will
also make or break the quality of your final output.
Inks
Stating the obvious, it’s important to remember that all inkjet printers use ink to form the
image—not electrostatically charged toners, not RGB laser lights, not photosensitive silver
halide, but liquid inks. (Solid ink printers use resin-based inks that turn into liquid
after heating, but I won’t be covering them here. See Chapter 2.) Which ink is the question,
and there are plenty of choices. (Note: As with printers, this chapter is a snapshot of
what’s available at the time of this writing. Check with suppliers for their latest products
or with the DP&I.com website (www.dpandi.com).
Inkjet ink formulation is a complex, scientific undertaking, with modern day alchemists
spending their days paying microscopic attention to chemical and physical ink properties
such as dispersants, solvents, pH buffers, solubilizing agents, viscosity modifiers, antioxidants,
biocides, and more. While making informed choices about which inks to use
doesn’t require a Ph.D. in chemistry, a certain amount of knowledge is necessary.
Ink Components, Dyes vs. Pigments
Inks are made up of two main components: a colorant and a vehicle or carrier. The vehicle
is the transport medium that holds or contains the colorant, and it’s either solvent- or
water-based, with water (aqueous) being the dominant type for the kind of printing that’s