U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Somerset Satin for gravure

Somerset Satin for gravure



Chris, Susan - I've used Rives BFK but I really like Somerset Satin. It's beautifully soft and very forgiving. As I said earlier, I always use a damp pack now as I find it's more consistent than soaking sheets just prior to printing. Once I remove the paper from the pack, I place it face up on clean newsprint and just blot it with more newsprint on the surface, just enough to remove any surface water.

I had the pleasure of spending the morning with Jon Goodman who came by the studio unexpectedly. He too favours Somerset, which was reassuring, as I know he used to love Lana Gravure.

Jon - The Hahnemuhle Copperplate warm white is my favourite for my personal work. The Hahnemuhle Durer Etching is also good paper, but has a little more texture. I found the Rives BFK gave contrastier results than any of the other papers mentioned and for my style, wasn't really appropriate.

Keith.

On Feb 20, 2007, at 11:30 AM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:

Keith, I am using Weston, Rives BFK 175 weight, and Arches Cover. I can't believe I didn't think about the paper/water variable. See, when I first was printing the cigarette smoker I was getting creamy whites, but then I started getting grainy whites. I just looked and all the current ones are on Weston, a much thinner paper, as well as the 175gsm Rives, but the creamy are on the Arches.

I do soak the paper for 5-15 minutes (sometimes longer) and blot under blotting papers with a rolling pin. Time to go to work, darn....

Chris