hahnemuhle paper

I am a late-come to the traditional Darkroom for about a year now. As I have been growing my knowledge for traditional printing, I have started to appreciate different papers and different textures. I recently tried the Ilford Art 300 by Hahnemuhle. Magnificent paper. I was so delighted with the feeling of it that I went looking for more hahnemuhle options. I even went to their website. They have so many different fine art selections for digital printing but found nothing for traditional darkroom. I find hard to believe they didn't make any papers for traditional printing in the past . are they all gone ? if not , where can be purchased ?

Ilford Art 300 is made by Harman/Ilford, not Hahnemuhle (sp?).

Harman source the paper from the paper manufacturer, and then apply the emulsion.

In days gone past, that is how all the photographic paper manufacturers worked, and they had a much greater variety of paper manufacturers to source from.

I don't know that light sensitive photographic paper has ever been sold by a paper manufacturer.

Matt. If you read the B&H description for this paper it says ; "produced for harman technology by hahnemuhle" . But I think I see what your are telling me. Hahnemuhle is the paper manufacturer. Harman/Ilford applies the emulsion and sells it.

You have it right.

I think that the B&H listing reflects a mis-quote from the Ilford/Harman information.

From the Ilford/Harman website listing for the product:

"ILFORD MULTIGRADE ART 300 has a textured matt surface with an eggshell sheen. The new base has been specially produced for HARMAN technology by Hahnemühle FineArt GmbH."

Well, you could always buy the inkjet paper and then pour your own emulsion onto it...

Dr Croubie said:

Well, you could always buy the inkjet paper and then pour your own emulsion onto it...

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The same could be done with drawing or printmaking paper.

Despite their steep cost, Hahnemühle papers are very much sought-after for high-end inkjet printing for exhibition and have extremely long archival storage characteristics (with museum-grade conservation framing, which is pretty much standard now). There are 16 Hahnemühle framed prints here, including toned B&W and colour. I am not aware of any wet darkroom papers from Hahnemühle??

They are from Inform, not Hahnemuhle.

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Predictive text turned my Ilford into Inform. Ha!

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Matt is spot....

We coat onto a special Fine Art base especially made for us by Hahnemuehle.

And it is also true that this is in the 'tradition' of coaters to find special 'bases' to coat on
from 'paper' manufacturers... and few have the history or lineage of Hahnemuehle.

As Dr.Croubie says you can use liquid emulsion coated down onto virtually any paper base, but for a product like ART 300 that is coated on our coating machine it has to meet lots of performance parameters, also it has to have 'wet strength' in other words to remain stable during manufacture to avoid 'breaking' apart during the process, that also applies when it is developed, fixed and washed or you could end up with just a pile of mush.....

It is also very difficult to coat 'fine art' or 'disturbed' paper bases as photo coatings are very, very thin and you can get 'poke through' of the natural fibres which destroy the adhesion and integrity of the coating, its why you need a 'special' emulsion and coating technique.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

If you want to coat your own, my impression is that papers subbed for inkjet often don't work well for handcoating, because the emulsion doesn't adhere or it interacts with the subcoat, but Hahnemuehle has a centuries-long history of making paper, and all their papers are available in uncoated form as printing, drawing, and watercolor papers. There are of course many other manufacturers of drawing and watercolor papers, and some of them work nicely for alternative processes, or if you want to start simple, there are premixed liquid emulsions you can find at suppliers like Freestyle in LA.

Let me put in a plug for handmade emulsions. I'd hate to think newcomers to the wet side of photography are unaware of all the potential of d.i.y. just because the emulsion making sub-forum here fell apart.

I suppose that technically handmade emulsions fall under the category "liquid emulsion", but I think almost everyone reading those words thinks of a bottle of the commercial stuff. Making your own is only a bit more involved than buying a pre-made bottle, and a whole lot more flexible and affordable.

Hahnemuhle paper is gorgeous stuff to coat on. So are a lot of other papers. I have a page about some of the potentials here: http://www.thelightfarm.com/Map/Toning/ToningPart1.htm

It doesn't include the range of paper surfaces because the textures are too subtle to capture virtually.

As readers of the The Light Farm might know I'm in the process of re-organizing the entire site to make it easier for newcomers to access. The site grew organically for a number of years and the people there from the beginning know how to retrieve the information but somewhere along the line while I was researching, writing, and just generally having a great good time, the site got too big. I think The Light Farm will be very useful when I'm done and I'm also writing a companion book, but in the meantime I hope people don't forgot handmade emulsions. If you're writing about liquid emulsions you might consider adding "or handmade".
d

Simon, if it's especiallyade for Ilford, can you please ask them to especially make it less floating?

This floating paper is absolutely absurd as it's supposed to be drowning and stay there for about an hour.
Washing this paper is such a pita that I'm not sure I can deal with it on a regular basis, which would be a shame as it's a lovely paper once dry.

lhalcong said:

They have so many different fine art selections for digital printing but found nothing for traditional darkroom. I find hard to believe they didn't make any papers for traditional printing in the past . are they all gone?

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To me that is an important issue, though not addressed by the industry.

The papermaker blames the photo-chemical industry, they again blame the papermaker.

Dear NB23,

You are spot on, float it does, I have used the product in an archival washer and just attached a film clip to the bottom...

An upside is that you do not have to wash it for as long as Baryta....

Dear DW Ross...... I 100% agree, making emulsions ( or using commercially available emulsions ) and using them creatively must be encouraged at all times and must give people great satisfaction as well as a wider creative pallette... muy only caution was in relation to wet strength capability of the substrate used if then being processed and washed conventionally.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :