Cotton paper

[Gary Holliday]

I was reading an interesting article in this months Ag Photography about contact printing and liquid emulsions.

I'm looking for recommendations on artist's cotton printing paper which will accept silver gelatin liquid emulsions. Something textured and suitable for this type of emulsion.

Thanks.

 

[Dana Sullivan]

Bergger uses the COT-320 paper for their Silver Supreme papers, so I would assume a liquid emulsion would work just fine.

 

[Gary Holliday]

I'm assuming that COT-320 is a Bergger product. I would just use Silver Supreme in that case. I'm looking for alternatives. What papers are Pt/ Pd printers using? Are these suitable?

 

[juan]

A lot of folks use Arches Platine paper. I've used it for Van Dykes, salt prints and albumen. I've seen others use it for kallitypes and platinum. I'm currently trying out Strathmore 500 that most art supply houses list as Bristol Board. The Arches has a smooth side and a somewhat more textured side. The Strathmore is smooth on both sides. Bostick and Sullivan sells a number of papers that are suitable for alt process.
juan

 

[photomc]

I'm assuming that COT-320 is a Bergger product. I would just use Silver Supreme in that case. I'm looking for alternatives. What papers are Pt/ Pd printers using? Are these suitable?

Some plt/pld printers use COT-320, it is a Bergger product but is not a coated paper (it's origin can be trace to Arches Platine, though they are not the same exact paper). There are a number of papers used by plt/pld printers, would think a quick search on the site would find several...Lenox, Fabriano Artistico Extra White, Rives BFK, Stonehenge, and on and on.

 

[RobertP]

Juan, Are you giving the Strathmore an acid bath of oxalic acid before you use it? If so, at what strength? Thanks

 

[juan]

I haven't tried the Strathmore with a process needing oxalic acid yet, so I'm not sure.
juan

 

[Gary Holliday]

I've a lot of reading to do on this subject and I'm looking to narrow the choices for suitable paper. I've been reading about Buxton paper also although it may work out to be too expensive.

What would be the minimum gsm suitable?

 

[RobertP]

Gary, Some papers work very well for pt/pd straight from the mill. Papers like Buxton and were developed with the pt/pd process in mind. Some papers will work well but need to be pretreated first in order to get the ph where it needs to be for the process. Papers like Fabriano Artistico EW is a good example of a paper that needs pretreating with oxalic acid before it will work well with the pt/pd process. As far as gsm goes. I've used Buxton 180 for 8x20 prints. They also make a 240gsm but I haven't tried it. The 240 may work better for those large ULF negatives, just for the simple fact that being heavier (most of the time) means better wet strength. The papers I use that don't require any pretreating are, Weston's Parchment, Arches Platine, Buxton, and Swiss Opaline but I'm sure there are others out there.

 

[Gary Holliday]

Thanks for the info Robert, would silver gelatine liquid emulsions be fussy about ph levels?