Oriental Seagul Warmtone FB!!!

Tom Stanworth · Jul 25, 2005

Nothing exciting, just a quick report on a first use of the stuff:

Just used my first few sheets of this for a 20x16 shot taken in Spain..will post at some point if I can get a digi snap of the print ...I am a big fan of their graded and VC neutral papers and also Forte, so had high hopes and, WOW! I am not a a fan of non-gloss surfaces, but this is just off gloss and very pleasant. The warmth is wonderful and very warm indeed, even more so than polywarmtone to my eyes. In selenium it changes in a blink to a purple brown, as does polywarmtone, but it appears less willing to split, which can be a good thing - ie of you want to get snap in the balcks and shadows, without the higher tones, you are not left with greenish casts in the higher values and pruple in the lows - it just depends on what you want. I would say it tones browner than PWT which can be a bit too rusty red browbn at times. This is more chocolatey.

This paper is exceptional, a real gem. However watch out. I dries down in BIG way, it got to be 15% perhaps more! Glad I have 91 sheets of 20x16 left! I would have had a few more left if the drydown had not caught me out more than once....

Leon · Aug 20, 2005

Tom - I'm with you, I printed this (there was a url link here which no longer exists) with it the other day - my first printing session with it, and it is just gorgeous paper. Even without toning, the neutol 1:15 gave incredible warm almost brown tones, not the usual olivy green with other WT papers). Now I understand the Oriental thing - next time I'll order some neutral too.

herb · Aug 20, 2005

Oriental Warmtone

I am about to get into a darkroom after decades of absence. One of my favorites in the 50's was Oriental Seagull, I am quite sure it was some sort of textured, perhaps a canvas look surface. I don't see anything in FreeStyle's web page but glossy and semi gloss (semi gloss on backorder).

You mention your print was off gloss- what surface does the mfg call it?

thanks

ineffablething · Aug 20, 2005

It's very nice in Ektaflo developer. Light selenium toning brings to a beautiful brown color.

Pastiche · Aug 20, 2005

This is good to hear...
Im thinking on bidding on some 16x20 Oriental up for sale on Ebay
The only hitch- it's from 2002 and been stored in a darkroom/basement in Colorado...
Any thoughts on if it will have lost some of it's properties in that time & those conditions?

FrankB · Aug 21, 2005

Leon said:
Tom - I'm with you, I printed this (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Oh bugger. If you two are so emphatic about it then I'm going to have to try some!

Anyone souped it in Ilford Multigrade dev?

Tom Stanworth · Aug 21, 2005

Leon,

The finish is fairly unique isn't it. Just enough off gloss to reduce reflection, but Dmax is not diminished too much.

Sepia tones (partially) beautifully....much better than polywarmtone,as the shadowns seem to be degraded less. Still bleaches V fast so take care.

FrankB · Aug 21, 2005

Ho hum... Just went to the Silverprint site and found the following -

"ORIENTAL PAPERS - R.I.P.
End of an era - Oriental Seagull was the paper that Silverprint started off with, and the first shipment was brought into the UK in 1984. Although it got off to a great start, and quickly became a cult material here, in later years it had a troubled existence, including abysmal performance by 2 other UK importers, and Oriental themselves going into receivership some years ago.
Although the factory was re-established, production ceased some time ago, and the paper now sold under the Oriental brand is manufactured elsewhere.
The new paper offers no advantages over other generally available brands, and in particular does not lith process. It is also considerably more expensive than other brands so we are no longer bringing it into the UK."

Bugger again (twice in one thread, a personal best).

Mr Cad still seem to carry it, but I see what the concern over the price is about! Phew!

Dave Miller · Aug 22, 2005

Can anyone give an opinion on how this stuff compares to Kentmere? I'm using their VC papers and find it accepts toning very well.

Leon · Aug 22, 2005

FrankB said:
Ho hum... Just went to the Silverprint site and found the following -

"ORIENTAL PAPERS - R.I.P.
End of an era - Oriental Seagull was the paper that Silverprint started off with, and the first shipment was brought into the UK in 1984. Although it got off to a great start, and quickly became a cult material here, in later years it had a troubled existence, including abysmal performance by 2 other UK importers, and Oriental themselves going into receivership some years ago.
Although the factory was re-established, production ceased some time ago, and the paper now sold under the Oriental brand is manufactured elsewhere.
The new paper offers no advantages over other generally available brands, and in particular does not lith process. It is also considerably more expensive than other brands so we are no longer bringing it into the UK."

Bugger again (twice in one thread, a personal best).

Mr Cad still seem to carry it, but I see what the concern over the price is about! Phew!

Hmm - I heard that it was now made by Ilford, although I'm not sure if this is infact the case. Either way, this warmtone version really is something special compared with other WT papers I've used - eg Ilford MGFB WT and Fotospeed Legacy. I've not tried Kentmere or Forte so I cant compare it to them.

Frank, I got it from peter hogan's site - www.monochromephotography.com - but since, Tom has told me that Mr Cad often does good deals on oriental papers - two for the price of one kind of things so that makes it much more accessible.

Tom Stanworth · Aug 22, 2005

Leon said:
Hmm - I heard that it was now made by Ilford, although I'm not sure if this is infact the case. Either way, this warmtone version really is something special compared with other WT papers I've used - eg Ilford MGFB WT and Fotospeed Legacy. I've not tried Kentmere or Forte so I cant compare it to them.

Frank, I got it from peter hogan's site - www.monochromephotography.com - but since, Tom has told me that Mr Cad often does good deals on oriental papers - two for the price of one kind of things so that makes it much more accessible.

Yikes. My (VC and G) paper liths wonderfully, both the VC and graded. I bought mine some time back tho so may be different. I have heard that the GF replacement for 'G' is definitely not the same, so maybe this is what Peter Hogan is talking about. The WT stuff I have defintely is not a Forte or Ilford paper as far as I can tell, so I can only deduce that I have old stock from the good old days. This is a major, major shame. I have no idea what I will replace the VC/G with and I don't have as much left as I would like. My other favourite neutral (ish) papers are all gone or in danger: Ploymax fine art and Agfa MCC.

Tom

FrankB · Aug 22, 2005

Just to clarify -

The quote I posted was from the Silverprint website http://www.silverprint.co.uk and the statement was issued by them.

Seagull is still shown as available on the Mr Cad website Dead Link Removed and Pete Hogan's website http://www.monochromephotography.com

Oriental Seagul Warmtone FB!!!

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