civilized ku # 88 ~ the time has come...
Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 12:58PM 
The time has come • click to embiggenthe walrus said, "to talk of many things." ~ from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There Lewis Carroll.
This line came to mind today as I have been spending a good deal of time looking through the looking-glass in order to see what I could find there. The looking-glass I am referring to is my monitor and what I am trying to find there is all of my pictures that are candidates for my ku portfolio - the one that I will be submitting to galleries and publishers for obvious reasons.
The task is proving to be even more daunting than I had anticipated. I knew going in that how the images looked on my monitor would not determine what was in and what was out, that I would have to print the selected images in order to really see how they looked. However, what has surprised me is the sheer number of images that rate consideration as possible "finalists". With over 800 ku pictures in my library, that is to say, 800 pictures that had already made the cut from amongst the thousands that I have made while ku picturing over the past 5 years, I had estimated maybe 80 -100 candidates for consideration.
Wrong. There are currently 160 prints for consideration and I am only about 2/3rds of the way through the library. It looks like there will be well over 200 prints for evaluation. That number blows out of the water my idea of taping them all to a wall and spending week or so just looking. I don't have a wall or even a room of walls that can accommodate that many prints. What to do? What to do?
As I was pondering the dilemma, my feverish little brain came up with an idea. There is a brand new gallery in town dedicated to showing the work (the good, the bad, and the down-right ugly) of local artists and crafts-people. It's a big place - I would estimate 4,000 sq. ft with high ceilings spread over 2 rooms. While main room (2500 sq ft) has filled up right way, the adjacent room is still mostly available. So ....
I moseyed on over to the gallery and had a chat with the owner / manager. It turns out that she had been casting about for an idea for a grand opening event - one that would not create consternation amongst various members of the community who were strongly suggesting "themes" for an opening that would play to their own non-arts benefit. She seemed to think that my idea of an "interactive" show would be the perfect "out" from her dilemma.
Here's my idea. I tape all of my approximately 250 work prints to the walls (this solves my wall space dilemma) and then invite the public to vote for their favorites. After the voting is over (the opening + 2 weeks), the top 25 vote getters are enlarged to 24×24 inch final prints and presented as a viewer's choice exhibit.
In addition to solving my wall space dilemma, I think it will be interesting to find out what the public chooses as favorites from my amongst selects. Not that I will be selecting my final selects based on those choices, but it will interesting to see how close they match up. The overall feedback will also be interesting in as much as the majority of the viewers will not be "educated" observers of all things Art.
I am really looking forward to this, but, enough of that. It's time to get back to the looking-glass.
PS: I have been going through a lot of $10 ink cartridges for my trusty, tried and true Epson 2200. I know that these cartridges are amongst the highest price-per-ml inks on the planet. I am not willing to venture into 3rd party inks and am very cautious about bulk ink systems (again, 3rd party inks). I am also pining for a printer that prints bigger than 13 inches wide.
That said, I am looking at the Epson 3800 which, I think, would keep me happy, size-wise, for a long time .... but ... $480 for a set of inks scares the hell out of me. I am fairly certain that the price-per-ml is a lot better than that for my 2200 but I can't find out the capacity of the 2200 ink cartridges. The 3800 cartridge capacity is 80ml. Anyone out there know what the capacity of the 2200 cartridges is? Anyone out there have a 3800?
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: the wife wrote: "There is an unwritten rule on this site - When Gravitas is looking to buy an expensive toy, I mean tool, do not encourage him to buy a MORE expensive tool."
Reader Comments (7)
Please let us know the dates for the showing as you hammer out the details...Jill and I are there (Jill guaranteed...me depending on work schedule). A great idea. Will any of the 250 or so prints "taped up" for the show be for sale?
Can't help on the printer...but interested to hear others' opinions, as I too am in the market for my first printer by year's end hopefully...
James
I have the Epson 4000. If you think about the cost of a complete change of inks, it is a lot of money but in real life, that doesn't happen. When you see one cartridge getting lower, you order another cartridge or two. Still expensive but on the other hand $85 for the 220 ml cartridge doesn't cause me to get as weak in the knees as thinking about a whole change out. BTW, I've heard nothing but good things about the 3800 printer.
If memory serves correctly, I believe the ink cartridges for the 2200 hold 10-12 ml of ink. While it may seem expensive to shell out $480 for a set of 3800 inks, enough ink for the the same volume of printing with the 2200 would cost you roughly 2-3 times that amount. I have been printing with the 3800 for about five months now and love it. My previous printer was a 2200 at home. We have an Epson 4000 at school. In fact, three years ago, we purchased the 4000 for school because it would pay for itself three times over (or more) during its life as a student printer because of the reduced cost of the 220ml cartridges vs. a 13" wide printer's much smaller cartridges. Of course, we go the bonus of a 17" wide printer. Per semester of printing, we go through 1.5 to 2 complete sets of 220ml cartridges for the 4000. When I purchased my 3800 for home use, I immediately bought two complete sets of cartridges, and while I don't print as much as you obviously do, I have yet to need more ink. If you purchase the 3800, be sure to purchase a couple of "maintenance cartridges - T5820" also. If you were happy (as I was) with the 2200, you'll absolutely love the 3800.
P'taker
You may want to look at the 4800/4880, while it's about twice the cost of the 3800, it's cartridges are available in 110ml and 220ml versions for ink costs effectively around a quarter of the 2200's.
In Canadian pricing, the 80mm carts for the 3800 are $67 each, while the 220ml carts for the 4880 are $125 and 110ml carts are $78.
If you do a fair bit of printing, the more expensive 4800/4880 printer will pay for itself rather quickly. The last I checked, compared to the 2400 the 4800 payed for itself in around 350 prints based on ink costs. The 3800 will do better in comparison (Given its low pricing in comparison to the much more reasonable ink prices).
I have a 3800 and it isn't bad at all. I print quite a bit with it and have had no problems at all. My only regret is that I didn't purchase something that could print up to 20 or 24 inches. Oh well, next time.
Gentlemen:
There is an unwritten rule on this site - When Gravitas is looking to buy an expensive toy, I mean tool, do not encourage him to buy a MORE expensive tool.
Hello Mark,
I own a 3800 printer and find it lovely to work with. I did find a problem printing sheets more narrow than an A4 sheet and I think the weight of each sheet was the issue and not the printer, incorrect feeding on my part. Nothing fed incorrectly behaves correctly (humans included).
Purchasing cartidges is no big deal, I order whatever is lowest each time I buy paper which means I have a few on the shelf ready for the next out of ink message.