Simplification - One Printer Down

I gave the Epson 2000P away today. I put a "free" ad up on Craigslist and a art teacher wanted it. I also gave him stacks of Inkpress warmtone paper, my refillable ink cartridges for that printer and one of the inksets I was working with. I don't feel bad giving the stuff away - it went to a good cause and it's out of my hair. I think he's going to have a interesting time trying to figure it all out. They only teach traditional darkroom (which I think is totally cool) so his skill set is really limited to film. He was bombarding me with all kinds of questions. I wasn't trying to be obtuse, but I tried to tell him there were many ways to get to where he wanted to go. Kids are quite tech savvy and I'm sure they will be able to put it all together. So in one fell swoop I simplified my workspace a bit.

I've had quite a collection of inkjet printers going for a while. I have a couple more to decide what to do with. I've got the 2200 with UT-3D working fairly well. It took me a weekend to get a decent curve with Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, but I'm fairly happy with the prints. I've decided to go the glossy paper route for a while. I've also tried the Harmon fiber AL warmtone glossy. I'm really liking this paper. One thing I don't like about the 2200 it that is leaves pizza wheel marks on the glossy prints. I'll have to sort that out. I have to say, in general, my inkjet prints are more expressive than anything I could have produced in the darkroom. The glossy fiber papers and the UT-3D inkset are working out well. I still like the idea of shooting film, but it may be time to sell off the darkroom equipment.

I'm leaning to porting the UT-3D inkset to the Epson 4000. Pizza wheel mark problem will be solved - the 4000 uses a vacuum feature to hold paper in place. I can print larger prints (although my most common size is 6x9). The printer has both matte and glossy black ink installed so no need to swap cartridges - this is a very nice feature. I'll be able to work out curves for a couple matte papers and a couple gloss papers. Also can utilize roll papers. If I port the UT-3D to the 4000, I can get rid of the 2200 as well and be one more printer down.

I still have an Epson R220. I would probably put color inks back in that printer and use it for normal desktop stuff as well as small color photos. I figure if I ever wanted to print a large color image, I would just source it out.