Postcard paper

[BetterSense]

I want to print some postcards, and I know you can buy postcard paper becaues Apug has postcard exchanges. But I can't search it on the web, because searches for "postcard photo paper" turn up nothing but returns for that other imaging technology. Where can I buy some black-and-white postcard paper?

 

[PhotoJim]

Ilford has it. It is tricky to find in North America but it is available; I have a box.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Freestyle has it.

 

[thedarkroom]

This shop in Dublin, Ireland, had several boxes of the Ilford postcard paper on its shelves the other day when I was in there. They were selling it in their sale, which is running at the moment. I can't remember how much it was and I would imagine it would be expensive to ship it to California but they do mail order and might be able to help you out.
http://www.berminghamcameras.ie
You could try emailing them and see what they say, maybe they'll do you a deal just to get the paper off the shelf.

 

[Mike Wilde]

Look into excactly what your postal system allows.

Mine has no postcard rate; my cards go out at the same rate as a first class letter; I could put my images in an envelope and that would be the same price too.

So I custom cut my paper. I print on 5x7, and cut down to 4.7x7, which is as big as I can send out at the postal rate I am charged.

I have printed fb sw, and fb dw and dry mounted onto card stock that held the addressing infomation, and also printed mw rc and stuck adhesive address labels o the back. These efforts have all worked.

 

[bdial]

In addition to Freestyle, B&H carries it, the last time I looked anyway, and I believe Calumet has it too, probably Adorama.
If you have a local shop that has Ilford paper, they could order it, but you might get stuck on minimum order quantities.

The paper is MG IV RC, on a base that's slightly heavier than their standard RC and it's got printing on the back stating it's a postcard and lines for an address, and such.

As Mike indicates, you can accomplish the same thing with standard papers cut to an appropriate size, but the postcard paper makes it simple.

 

[Roger Thoms]

I have bought Ilford postcard paper from Freestyle and more recently from Calumet. The apug postcard exchange is fun, sign up for the next exchange should start in Jan.

Roger

 

[Mike1234]

Couldn't a person just print whatever he/she wants on the back with a laser or inkjet printer?

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

Couldn't a person just print whatever he/she wants on the back with a laser or inkjet printer?

Well, by that point, I would handwrite/draw everything with a fountain pen and special paper binding ink.

 

[david James lee]

calumet has them. the glossy kind looks great and they are all double weight.

 

[Mike1234]

Couldn't a person just print whatever he/she wants on the back with a laser or inkjet printer?

Well, by that point, I would handwrite/draw everything with a fountain pen and special paper binding ink.

It's not quite the same thing. One could print via laserjet or inkjet on the back of a properly sized photo with quite good results. My suggestion was intended as a viable/positive alternative to buying dedicated postcard print stock and it's much cheaper and less wasteful, IMHO.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

I have it in stock. I would suggest the pearl finish... it gets through the mail in better shape for some reason.
-rob

 

[bdial]

Couldn't a person just print whatever he/she wants on the back with a laser or inkjet printer?

I tried it once, but my printer didn't do very well with it. So, like lots of other people, I continue to use labels pasted to the postcard paper.
I prefer using the post card paper to cutting down bigger sheets, though largly because my darkroom isn't suited to production cutting. If I had space in there for a bigger cutter I might well do the postcards on cut down sheets, it would be slightly cheaper, especially if one used something like Arista.

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

It's not quite the same thing. One could print via laserjet or inkjet on the back of a properly sized photo with quite good results. My suggestion was intended as a viable/positive alternative to buying dedicated postcard print stock and it's much cheaper and less wasteful, IMHO.

How is it wasteful to use something as intended?

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Couldn't a person just print whatever he/she wants on the back with a laser or inkjet printer?

RC paper through a laser printer? No, I wold not recommend that. The printer may be too hot for the plastic coating.

 

[pentaxuser]

Ilford postcard paper is in fact Portfolio, hence the massive hike in price compared to its MG IV cousin. Portfolio is thicker but I suspect that sticking a pre-printed postcard back onto ordinary MG IV paper might stiffen it just as much and will be (a) cheaper and (b) make it easier to write on the back compared to Portfolio. RC paper of any kind isn't as easy to write on as normal paper.

In the U.K nowadays the cheapest postcard paper is about £28(roughly $45) per 100 sheets. It's only 6x4 and this makes it nearly 3 times as expensive as 6x4 MGIV paper of the same size. Nice as postcard paper is, the fact remains that we are paying for a niche product and being charged niche prices.

pentaxuser

 

[Monophoto]

In the old days, Kodak (Kodabromide), Agfa (Brovira) and Ilford all offered post card stock.

Today, we are down to only Ilford.

By the way, the dimensions of the Ilford material have always been a bit different from the other manufacturers. It used to be possible to purchase a "SpeedEasel" for postcard paper, but the commercial offering was smaller than the Ilford dimensions.

 

[panchro-press]

Porter's Camera and Video in Cedar Falls, Iowa has an ink hand stamper for making post cards.

-30-

 

[polyglot]

In AU, the postcard rate applies to huge cards so I just send 5x7s. I got a bunch of Ilford postcards in the exchange but have never seen them for sale here.

And $45 for 100? We pay more than that for plain MGIV RC.

 

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

Getting the ink to stick to the back of the stuff would be interesting, maybe with FB paper it would be simpler, but remember that RC paper is "resin coated" (though it's plastic) on the back as well as the front. If an inkjet printer can print on acetate it should be able to print on RC paper, but the heat generated would be an interesting problem, getting it through all the bends of a printer without it being damaged.

I like the idea of a good old fashioned ink stamp though, I might look into that.

EDIT: The new importer for Ilford in Australia wont import the postcard paper from what I've been told, it seems I got the last 2 boxes in the warehouse.

 

[removed account4]

you can use any paper for postcards. the only thing about post card paper is that it has aline down the middle ...
...some papers are a pita to write on the back but regular fb works fine ..

 

[Mike1234]

How is it wasteful to use something as intended?

Only in the sense that one isn't likely to use an entire box of postcard paper. Then again, maybe they will.

BTW, I was talking about FB paper. As others pointed out, the RC papers area a PITA to right on. Inkjets will smear on plastic... and the plastic might melt on the laser drum!!

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

Only in the sense that one isn't likely to use an entire box of postcard paper. Then again, maybe they will.

BTW, I was talking about FB paper. As others pointed out, the RC papers area a PITA to right on. Inkjets will smear on plastic... and the plastic might melt on the laser drum!!

Oh, I would certainly use them all, haha. I am definitely buying two boxes of 100 count each to start with. No reason to pay money to "the man" whenever I travel...I shall make my own postcards. I understand that optical postcard prints were quite popular pre-war, Great War, that is.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I understand that optical postcard prints were quite popular pre-war, Great War, that is.

Not exactly "optical" as that would imply enlarging. Rather, contact printed postcards were universally popular. Many manufacturers made roll film and plate cameras with the postcard size image.

 

[pentaxuser]

). If an inkjet printer can print on acetate it should be able to print on RC paper.
I like the idea of a good old fashioned ink stamp though, I might look into that.

EDIT: The new importer for Ilford in Australia wont import the postcard paper from what I've been told, it seems I got the last 2 boxes in the warehouse.

I tried printing on the back of RC MG IV paper( not postcard but essentially same stuff). It worked but took a long time to dry and the ink tended to spread, giving a smudgy look as RC wasn't designed to absorb inkjet ink.

Based on my experience I'd favour an ink stamp or better still a pre-printed sticky back which gives it the postcard format.

pentaxuser