Re: Fabriano

[Loris Medici <mail@loris.medici.name>]

Soak in 2%-5% hydrochloric acid for at least 2-3 minutes (until no
fizzing/bubbles to be precise) and rinse well later. You'll have a
very nice paper for pt/pd and gumovers...

If you find HCl objectionable you may also use dilute (as above)
acetic acid, or (as a last resort) oxalic acid. Most printers
(including masters such as Dick Arentz and Kerik Kouklis) use oxalic
with good results but I don't find it well suited to the job since it
made a gritty paper for me. (I also don't find calcium carbonate and
oxalic acid compatible because the resulting salt is insoluble and
will remain in paper whereas HCl or acetic acid will make soluble
calcium salts which will leave the paper + HCl will dissolve small
bits of iron/metal in paper - if present - which is detrimental to the
process.) Moreover, another cause why I prefer it is the fact that HCl
is very very cheap and readily available (concentrated/pure or already
diluted for cleaning/decalcification/pH control purposes, many off the
shelf products) in my location (Turkey) - may not be so to you.

Hope this helps,
Loris.


2009/11/13 David Ashcraft <david@davidashcraftgallery.com>:
> This is a resend, I tried this around the beginning of the week and it
> doesn't appear to have gone trough so I'm trying again.  My apology if this
> is redundant, I think I used a different from address.
>
> Greetings,
> I need to order more paper for my pd/pt printing; using Platine now coating
> with the magic brush.  Was wanting to try the Fabriano Artistico HP Extra
> White 300lb and was wondering if anybody is using this or should I stay away
> from it.  I saw in Dick's book that it should be acidified and if that is
> still true, soaking or brushing, what works best this year?  I prefer the
> thicker papers so any recommendations in this direction is appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> David
>