InkThirft® Professional Dye ink

It is hard to imagine in a world in which higher and higher fade resistance ratings are delivered month after month, that a high-tech ink company like Vermont PhotoInkjet would develop a dye based product. Well, we are and the reasons are quite simple.

Low Costs

Pigment inks, especially high-tech pigment inks, are very expensive for us to make and for customers to buy. The simple reality is that many users of expensive inkjet printers do not actually require pigment ink because they produce short-life graphics. Ink•Thrift dye ink is 1/10 the cost of Epson pigment ink. In this type of economy, it is wise to be frugal with materials if the application supports using a dye based solution. Ink•Thrift can dramatically reduce your square foot printing costs while providing print head performance, the likes of which you may have never experienced before.

Significantly Better Gloss than Epson Ultrachrome and HDR

Most short life graphics are unnecessarily printed with pigments, when Ink•Thrift dye ink would be sufficient and actually quite superior for many applications. In fact, if you need to produce short-term glossy photographs, trade show graphics, or posters we can absolutely knock your socks off with glossiness. Ink•Thrift inks deliver a glossiness that Epson pigment inks cannot. Pigment is a solid material that must compete against the glossiness of the paper it is printed on. Ink•Thrift not only produces significantly better glossiness, but it achieves higher dMax, and is far less prone to metamerism. This is the deal-sealer and you can see for yourself by ordering up an 8.5″ x 11″ sample. You can print the comparative image on your own system with your own Epson inks. One look side-by-side, and you’ll be convinced. You can download the test image from the Instructions tab on the sample page.

Longevity

Short-life graphics do not need to last three years outdoors or over 100 years indoors. Typical short-term graphics are printed for temporary display in trade shows, for presentations, for head shots, for menus, flyers, for books and catalogues, posters for dormitory rooms, signage, hand outs and scrapbooks. Short-term graphics rarely need to be displayed outdoors for more than three months, or displayed indoors for more than 30 years. Many in fact, need only last a few days, weeks or months for a presentation or trade show. Pigment is totally over-qualified for short-term graphics. If you need to display artwork or photography indoors for a few decades, Ink•Thrift is now an option for your work. If your work is destined to be exhibited in a museum, Ink•Thrift is 100% archival and can have better longevity than C-print and Ilfachrome in these conditions.

Hardware

Ink•Thrift is certainly less prone to clogging print heads than is pigment! Ink•Thrift can also be jetted at extremely high speed. Ink•Thrift dye inks are not suspended particles as are pigment inks, so it has incredibly long shelf life and can be kept in printers for much longer than pigment inks. You can buy cheap dye inkjet printers, but these are not built for professional use nor have the desirable three blacks nor HDR options. Epson builds extraordinary large format professional printers, but does not offer a dye option. Ink•Thrift is now the high standard dye ink option for Epson large format printers.

Ink Technology

Ink•Thrift is a very high-tech ink that is formulated around an encapsulated dye molecule. Encapsulation of dye molecules is rare. Vermont PhotoInkjet already offers an encapsulated pigment particle. Ink•Thrift is a breakthrough in technology that allows us to offer a strong dye formulation that is more resistant to fading than ordinary dye ink. The reason that dye inks fade so quickly is because the dye molecules are prone to breaking apart. When a molecule breaks and free radicals are produced, rapid fading results. By encapsulating the dye molecules, we greatly slow the formation of free radicals from disturbing other molecules. The end result is that Ink•Thrift is a very strong dye ink and with very good water resistance when dry.

Color strength

Further, the color strength is enormous. But, color strength has always favored dye over pigment. We suspect that artists will find favor with Ink•Thrift. We’re very serious about it ourselves. We designed ink sets for the latest of Epson large format printers. We can supply dye based inks for the Epson 4900, 7900 and 9900 as Ink•Thrift HDR and we supply an Ink•Thrift K3 system for use in Epson Ultrachrome printers. We also have a ton of desktop products coming your way.

Waterfast

Dye inks have historically been water soluble and therefore inappropriate for outdoor use. But, Ink•Thrift dye ink utilizes an encapsulated dye molecule so that is highly waterfast. We’re not suggesting that you place your prints under water for display. But, you might accidentally submerge Ink•Thrift dye ink, or unintentionally expose it to water and it will not run.
Whatever your experience has been in the past, Ink•Thrift dye ink should not be lumped in with cheap China inks. It may be priced low, but Ink•Thrift is a strong, high-tech product that deserves a place in your large format arsenal. It may not only be perfect for cutting costs and saving money. It may also allow you to get the jobs requiring higher gloss or better dMax or better shadow separation in high chroma areas.