When our new Epson 9900 printer arrived we had to shut the street for the delivery truck. The printer weighes 275 pounds, and it took three strong movers to get it from the curb into our dining room.

Or probably I should say “the room formerly known as dining”—because it is now home to the Epson 9900 printer.

We’ve been printing on an Epson 4800 for about five years. The Epson 4800 seemed big enough when we first got it, but the maximum size print we could make using it was 17X22 inches.

With the Epson 9900 we can print on 44″ rolls of paper. This means that it will be easy for us to make 24X36″ prints, or even 40X60″ prints. For some images that are wider than they are long we’ll now be able to print in mural sizes: for example my Floral Tapestry Panoramas could go up to ten feet wide!

I’ve been getting requests for larger prints lately, so it is great that we will be able to make them.

The Ultrachome HDR inks for the Epson 9900 are new and improved, with a greater dynamic range than the older inks. In addition, two colors have been added—green and orange—so the Epson 9900 is a ten color printer in an arrangement that reminds me of the extensive gamut of  Hexachrome offset printing, which features added orange and green inks.

Anyhow, the Epson 9900 behemoth has taken over our dining room, as you can see in this shot (click on the image to view it larger):

Before we can run the first print we’ll need to drill some holes, get a network drop in place, and bring grounded current to the printer. After that, the nozzles need to be charged, which takes most of the ink shipped with the printer.

My guess is that we’ll be pulling the first prints towards the end of the coming week. It’s very exciting, and I can’t wait!