The project “The piezoelectric print. The injected picture”, co-financed by the University of Vigo, the Directorate General for R&D of the Xunta de Galicia (Xunta-UVI 2006-2007 Program) and EPSON Ibérica SAU from 2005 to 2007, was dedicated to in-depth research into digital printing with large-format plotters using micropiezoelectric demand-injection and variable-drip heads technology. This project, undoubtedly one of the most important ones for the dx5 group in its initial years due to its dissemination, national projection and size, arose as a result of a research contract in 2004 signed between the dx5 group of the University of Vigo and EPSON IBÉRICA SAU: “Application of EPSON Large Format Printers in Fine Arts” (Reference CO-12705).

This research on micropiezoelectric printing arises from the need to find methods and solutions to obtain efficient and qualified means of getting high quality prints but by avoiding the use of traditional engraving and printing methods. It is likewise an attempt to achieve substantial improvements through exhaustive microanalysis, both in terms of use of different papers or media, as well as the durability and preservation of prints made with digital media.

Project implementation and specific objectives:
In order to carry out contemporary graphic art projects that are driven by aesthetics, modes of thought and digital graphic environments, digital tools are a very valid means for formulating proposals, solving incongruity and updating concepts such as the original-multiple, diversification of media and frames, and also for dealing with the thorny issue of interdisciplinarity and both technical and conceptual interbreeding.

Thus, a machine that allows us to draw the filiforms we want, with a precision and schematism perfectly adapted to the projective, decisive and gestural environment of the escutcheon, also serves for printing photographs with resolutions that support the vision of a linen tester. It can at the same time obtain prints with velvety black qualities and all shades of aguatints that are comparable with the best traditional techniques. Therefore, this precise reality based on historical reasoning which makes drawing, painting and engraving inseparable, is nothing more than the logical evolution of a process that began two millennia ago in China, and which travelled from the east with the conquest of the Arabs to Spain, and from there to the whole of Europe in the form of printed paper.

Moreover, and since the printing industry has made great progress in this field in terms of quality of inks, papers and resolutions, it provides us with very useful and clean tools that have encouraged us to collaborate with the industry in adapting such machines to uses that artists and graphic creators need in their plastic work.
Many mechanical and microscopical tests were performed and all papers available to date in the national and European scenario on printing in Fine Arts were analysed, including the most representative ones from Japan. Studies were carried out in parallel on injection inks, their pigment components, co-solvents and media, etc., as well as on reactions in the various frames analysed. Among other achievements, the conditions for printing, drying, absorption and preparation were redesigned for optimal use in Fine Arts. Moreover, the research described was accompanied by a study of UV preservation, tolerance rates of prints, and their durability, both in archival and exhibition conditions where such works may be exposed to pollutants, gases, humidity, etc. All of this was done taking performance into account, not only through technical criteria but also aesthetic and artistic ones, and always with a view to best optimisation.

The tests carried out at the microscopy department of the CACTI, University of Vigo, and at the EPSON laboratories in Nagano-Japan, were part of the first interdisciplinary collaboration of vital practical importance for this and future projects. Likewise, also important was the contact with paper manufacturers such as Hannemühle and Somerset in Europe, or the Awawami Factory papers in Awa-Yamagawa (Tokushima, Japan).
Our group’s collaboration has provided solutions that permit coating of their kozo fibre washi papers with aluminium and/or titanium dextrins and silicates, which are very effective in achieving better digital printing results. These solutions are now being implemented by them after our research meeting at the Yamagawa Awawashi Factory in Shikoku, Japan, in October 2006.

This project is of vital importance for resolving inconsistencies, improving mixtures and adapting these machines to excellence use, and furthermore provides a user guide with a wide range of possibilities that cover both teaching and graphic creation in fine arts.

Therefore, this project was not about making a user manual, a chemical formula, or a set of optimal papers for printing, but rather about preparing a well reasoned and explained compendium, that was as complete as possible, on how to obtain a much wider and flexible means of digital printing processes via piezoelectric injection systems. And hence obtain multiple originals that fulfil the requirements of current graphic art works and thus permit the artist, after knowing the algorithmic parameters, chemicals, etc., to adapt the same to his/her expression needs.

Conclusions and experience:
A book with the main results obtained in the study was published as a conclusion of this project, and, prior to its commercialisation, it was presented officially to the artistic and scientific community, at the International 2006 Estampa Fair. The publication, entitled “The piezoelectric print: The injected picture. Some reflections on digital graphics”, received an outstanding welcome, as there was no precedent study to date that had addressed such a relevant subject with great rigour and depth, nor any that had provided this kind of documentary material for industrial graphic arts or for the Fine Arts world. The book is found in libraries and specialised bookshops all over Spain. With over 500 pages, it has abundant photographic material (over 1500 images) from nearly two hundred scanning electron microscopy samples of print tests performed with a new generation, high-resolution, high-quality plotter, on all artistic paper available in the European market at the time of the study, and the inkjet-ready “washi” papers marketed in Japan.

We have been surprised by the results of the work wherein a multitude of details which in some cases were considered as print defects were found to be rather attractive by some artists while, in other cases, what was considered technically well-printed was perhaps too well ironed from certain aesthetic or plastic points of view. In any case, the aim was to extend the horizon of possibilities, as much as possible, to provide a spectrum that gives freedom of use to those who print their works in this medium.

Moreover, the intention was to test and study a large amount of papers, fibres, binders, coatings and linings, practically all available in the Spanish market, most of those available in Europe for fine arts, as well as some from Japan. Inspections through scanning electron microscopy, backscattering, and other vision and molecular analysis techniques have revealed very interesting data. They provide us with answers to certain unknowns of great utility in the creative work with these machines, but above all, they open the door to adapting this medium to the sometimes different, controversial and transgressive needs with which artists approach any creative process, especially the ones that differ from the technical and commercial viewpoints of companies in the sector. Likewise, also studied is the compositions of inks, injection systems and processes related to improvement of their dispersant and thixotropic elements, absorption and magnetisation, to gain a profound knowledge of their qualities and possibilities. And last but not the least, durability and exposure tests to the different oxidising and abrasive elements of our environment have been carried out, because such works are exhibited and subject to light, air, and deterioration over time. Thus, museums and institutions can be provided with the best options and solutions for protection, restoration, and preservation of the printed digital graphic work thanks to a professional and in-depth study adapted to real needs.

The results not only surprised many, but also laid the foundations for piezoelectric printing methods on non-purpose built materials, by adapting them with appropriate preparations for the medium to be injected that contemporary researchers like Adam Lowe use in their professional Permaprint printing studio in London and Factum Art in Madrid. Interest in this work lies not only in improving existing technology, but in obtaining knowledge and applying it to adapt papers and artistic media not destined for application in piezoelectric injection, for use in the same. In addition to this, progress has also been made in inks: earlier inks, which used highly toxic volatile solvents (VOCS) were gradually replaced by inks with water-based solvents. This and other actions are part of the dx5 group’s efforts to move toward sustainable graphic arts and the consolidation of non-toxic engraving systems.

All research results were presented, together with the publication mentioned above, during a Conference day organised within the framework of the 2006 International Contemporary Graphic Fair Estampa (number of visitors: 70,000), on a stand at the Fair, on the Fair catalogue, as well as in several press releases and reviews in newspapers, magazines and specialised publications. The joint dx5 group/Epson stand not only displayed the theoretical and technical results of the research, but also presented an exhibition with works of 25 relevant artists from the national scenario, including all dx5 group members. The works were made especially for this exhibition project, using the printing and plotter equipment that the research group has at its facilities at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Pontevedra. They were published in the book mentioned above and presented during the lecture series, with representatives from important graphic and contemporary art institutions such as the Miró Foundation from Palma de Mallorca, the National Chalcography, the International Contemporary Estampa Centre from Betanzos, the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Engraving from Marbella, and the Museum of Contemporary Art from Vilanova de Cerveira, among others.