SWitching from Luster to Matte Papers on Epson 4880

I have a client that wants several of her watercolor paintings reproduced for sale as prints. She has had previous works reproduced in a custom lab using Epson Enhanced Matte papers and is completely satisfied with the final results, so no need to look any further for a good matte paper.

I typically use Epson Premium Luster Paper in my 4880 and will have to switch over the black inks from photo black to matte black. I'm reading that this sucks up lots of ink (not only the blacks, but the colors too!) and typically you need your ink cartridges to be fairly full to begin the process - which means it looks like I would end up with several opened cartridges afterwards, because currently many of the cartridges I'm now using in the printer are less than half full. Then of course, I'll probably switch back over to luster paper (even if I like the matte paper) because I have tons of luster paper to use up first.

Does anyone know a way to "beat" that process and successfully switch over back and forth while "fooling" the printer without the need to each time have your cartridges almost full to start the process? I'm not so worried about the loss of the inks as I am about opening up new inks just to switch over each time. Thanks for your input.

It certainly doesn't take a half a cartridge. It does take some ink but even if you were down at 10% remaining you would still have plenty of ink left to make the print. That said, I do batch matte and non-matte print jobs to not switch back and forth constantly to save ink.

Mark,

You may try NOT switching inks and printing with photo black. I print with photo black on enhanced matte all the time and while it does have a little different look it is almost impossible to tell without comparing side by side and the PB ink is much more scuff resistant than MB. We just printed an entire art show for an artist that way and they looked great and she was tickled. Maybe print one and see what she thinks. BTW, be sure to use Epsons profile for the PK ink on EM paper. Good luck.