Textured papers

Hello all,
I know they're not particularly popular but I'm a big fan of textured papers. Is Ilford Mg Art 300 the only one currently in production? I'd really appreciate a list of other textured papers I could hunt down. I know about the first version of Foma 542 (never seen it for sale) and an older Kentmere paper which is very rare and pricey when it does come up... Is my best bet working with liquid emulsion?
Thanks in advance!

Liquid emulsion is probably your best bet. There are a tone of good fiber based papers out there, but most are made for watercolor. The only time I use textured appear is for alternative process. And even then, I prefer hot press for most things.

ART300 is excellent, easy to work with. Fomatone 532/542 have changed paper based several times since the original textured base & are currently out of production while the base changes again. The Kentmere textured base was not as nice as the ART300. Liquid emulsions on watercolour papers are not hard to work with, just exercise responsible chemical handling practice.

noeru said:

...I'd really appreciate a list of other textured papers I could hunt down.

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Look table 6 here: https://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/AntiqueP/antiquep.html

I have a sample pack from fotospeed of 7x10 different varieties of different textured papers. From the few I have used so far they are excellent, much prefer to Art. I bought the box second hand unopened and havent seen any since......not much good to you.

I still have 400 shts of Agfa Portriga Crystal silk FB. OH, the days of yore--Luminos Charcoal & Tapestry,ad infinitum.

jim10219 said:

Liquid emulsion is probably your best bet. There are a tone of good fiber based papers out there, but most are made for watercolor.

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Other than using Art 300, which I've returned to recently and really like the final prints, I'd also give a vote to using liquid emulsion. It's great stuff when used with care.

As mentioned, you mostly have to look in art shops for textured (watercolour) paper and you need to get the good ones = regrettably the cheaper ones like W H Smith own brand just dissolve when put into liquid.

I think I spent about 20 pounds EACH on two paper pads of about 20 sheets in each, from the local art shop and they are both excellent for coating with LE.

BTW you also need to get some (Japanese named...) goat hair(?) brushes (I got mine cheaply on ebay) to put the LE on the paper with, as any brush with any metal in it, to hold the bristles, will eventually turn rusty and this can easily end up on the prints! (Just found the link for them: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Crafts/14339/i.html?_from=R40&_sop=15&_nkw=goat+hair+brushes The first two set are what I use. They are cheap and cheerful but work brilliantly.)

Have fun!

Terry S

Quite frankly, a lot of the old textured surfaces seem to be fairly cheesy impersonations of classic mould-made printmaking/ watercolour papers - with the baryta coating to even out imperfections in the substrate. ART300 does the job much more convincingly, given that it is simply a nice cotton printmaking paper, coated directly with emulsion. The Kentmere stuff is much less pleasant to look at & handle - the single weight looks & feels like paper hand towels!

If you're looking at handcoating, some of the Japanese papers are worth trying too - I've found some of the Awagami inkjet papers work quite nicely, probably because they have a receiver layer for aqueous substances (ie inks).

chip j said:

I still have 400 shts of Agfa Portriga Crystal silk FB. OH, the days of yore--Luminos Charcoal & Tapestry,ad infinitum.

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