Postcards post postcard paper

Mogens

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It seems that photographic paper for printing postcards is no longer on the market, at least not that I've been able to find. Has anyone come up with a viable way of printing black and white images on to postcard-sized sheets of paper that you can both write on the back of and send through the mail?
 

MattKing

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I found that adhesive backed labels attached to the back of standard weight RC paper worked fine - they stiffened the print enough to make it sufficiently durable, and gave me a place to put the information.
I preferred using a laser printer for that information, but it works well with handwriting.
The heavier weight Ilford Portfolio paper is even nicer.
FWIW, I haven't bough 4"x6" paper in years - I used to just cut 8"x10" sheets into three 4"x6" sheets, and use the leftovers for test strips.
 

mshchem

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I have a good friend who uses (used) a letterpress to print the back of double weight fiber base paper. 11x14 paper cut into 8 3.5 x 5.5 cards (old US standard) this is the old Kodak sizes from their Kodabromide and Azo postcard days.
 
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Mogens

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Okay, I can see making that work several different ways.

mshchem said:
I have a good friend who uses (used) a letterpress to print the back of double weight fiber base paper. 11x14 paper cut into 8 3.5 x 5.5 cards (old US standard) this is the old Kodak sizes from their Kodabromide and Azo postcard days.
Click to expand...
I'd love to have better access to a letterpress workshop.
 

Don_ih

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See this webpage from Ilford. The Portfolio RC paper that they used for postcards is still available, but it's special order, and it doesn't have the printing on the back. It's the same thickness, however, and it comes with a template for marking the back if you want to (I don't see much use for it - I do what Matt does and put labels on the back - my handwriting is horrible).
 

Richard Searle

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I use Ilford Portfolio 6 x 4 (10.5cm x 14.8cm). When Ilford stopped back printing the postcard bit I had a rubber stamp made up.
 

Daniela

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For the postcard exchange, I just use regular 5x7 RC Ilford paper and hand draw "postcard" lines and add a stamp. They've been arriving in Europe and the US just fine!
 

Jeremy Greenaway

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Why not use a standard 'postcard' size inkjet card? A 6x4 glossy with a matte back formexample. Then use your inkjet or laser printer to impose postcard data on the back - that's what I do. There are several paper suppliers who list blank matte back photo papers - Permajet have a very high quality range and they even have a pre-printed version. Check it out on https://www.permajet.com/product/postcards/ And no, I have no commercial or other association with this compnay and I'm not a social media influencer!
 

GregY

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Well JG, that wouldn't help if you're printing in a darkroom.which is a likelihood since the post is in the analog sub forum.....
 

Nicholas Lindan

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There are stickers that attach to the back of a 4x6" print to convert it into a post card. The result is flat and rigid. I'm sure they would stick to the back of a B&W print. I'm sure you could make your own stickers with a computer printer.

A random pick from Amazon - "Make-Your-Own 4x6 Photo Postcards; 12+3 Pack Brand: Howard Packaging"

(For some reason links to Amazon pages don't work - they get converted to [MEDIA]...[/MEDIA] and disappear in the post.)
 
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Jeremy Greenaway

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Ah, yes . . . senior moment! However, same principal applies to photographic paper. Why not produce your postcards on postcard-size bromids, NOT RC paper, and use an inkjet or laser printer to superimpose the postal bit on the back? You can't use RC paper for this, ink or laser powder won't stick, so rather limited to stock that preferably doesn't have the maker's imprint on the reverse - that leaves out Big Yellow. Perhaps a Kentmere FB paper? I used to do this many moons ago, but have to admit one advantage of digital printing is that it's a helluva lot easier to produce postcards, greetings cards and the like! I would add that I'm a 'hybrid' - wet work as well as digital.
 

MattKing

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RC paper seems to withstand the rigours of the mail system much better than fibre based - for that reason I recommend it for the exchange.
 

Jeremy Greenaway

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It may well do so, but have you tried printing on the coated back? Doesn't matter whether you use dye or pigment ink, it will just smudge - unless of course you North Americans have some wonder juice that will!
 
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Mogens

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Jeremy Greenaway said:
It may well do so, but have you tried printing on the coated back? Doesn't matter whether you use dye or pigment ink, it will just smudge - unless of course you North Americans have some wonder juice that will!
Click to expand...

I'm not aware that we have any wonder juice that we're holding back from the rest of the world. Maybe root beer, I remember that being impossible to find in Europe. Indeed, I'd like to make postcards in the darkroom. I think I'll probably do the sticky back thing.
 

MattKing

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Jeremy Greenaway said:
It may well do so, but have you tried printing on the coated back? Doesn't matter whether you use dye or pigment ink, it will just smudge - unless of course you North Americans have some wonder juice that will!
Click to expand...

I print on adhesive label stock - when you attach that to the back of the card, it has the additional advantage of stiffening the card and of adding a place for handwriting as well.
 

koraks

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Jeremy Greenaway said:
Why not produce your postcards on postcard-size bromids, NOT RC paper, and use an inkjet or laser printer to superimpose the postal bit on the back
Click to expand...

Certainly not laser. The heat of the fuser will make the gelatin sticky and it'll damage both the print and the printer.
Inkjet maybe if the prints are really perfectly flat without any wavy edges etc.. Otherwise you'll get head strikes.
 

Alan Edward Klein

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I don't have a darkroom and would print in Walgreens or similar if on the cheap. What places and papers would you recommend for postcard exchange of BW postal cards and for color postal card exchanges?
 

Jeremy Greenaway

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koraks said:
Certainly not laser. The heat of the fuser will make the gelatin sticky and it'll damage both the print and the printer.
Inkjet maybe if the prints are really perfectly flat without any wavy edges etc.. Otherwise you'll get head strikes.
Click to expand...

Take the point about lasers - never had a problem with pre-printed 'wet' postcards running them through to put a postal imprint on the back though, although I haven't used a laser printer in 30 years or more. And using Canon Pixmas and now ProGRAF's have never had problems such as you suggest. Mind you, as I've only been doing photography and 'wet' printing for 73 years, and digital since the 1980's, I probably haven't enough experience to judge these things. Certainly the ProGRAF's I'm using (for up to A2) have superb media handling standards. I use heavyweight (320gms) stock and canvas to full format plus tiddly 6x4 'cartes de visite' etc. Yet to have a head strike - apart from when I bash mine against wall when print output doesn't match the screen, despite using a properly (supposed) calibrated setup. Can't beat the old Ilford Cibachrome system however - I used to print up to 30x40 and apart from being truly archival, the colour and definition was stunning.
 
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  • Roger Cole
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  • Reason: saw how old last post was, sorry
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