[alt-photo] Re: BFK & Rives heavysheet shades of white

[Keith Schreiber]

Hi Colin,

I've been using Rives papers for about 30 years and until today had never heard any of them referred to by the term "heavysheet" (or Heavy Sheet as it appears on the Blick website), so my initial thought is that what you have is Rives Heavyweight. This is not the same paper as Rives BFK, though it's easy to see how they can be confused. Blick's seems to be the only supplier that uses this terminology.

I think Blick's customer service may be right about them coming from different mills. One mill producing Rives Lightweight (115 gsm) and Heavyweight (175 gsm) in white and cream (buff), and the other producing the BFK range including regular Rives BFK (250, 270, and 300 gsm) and Rives BFK Heavyweight (280 gsm) in white, buff, tan, and grey. 

Take a look at the Daniel Smith site: http://www.danielsmith.com/ItemList--Printmaking-Papers-Sheets--m-174--page-3
The photos here do show a visible difference between Heavyweight and BFK, and it does look like the Heavyweight white is warmer than the BFK white.

I don't have the Heavyweight on hand at the moment, but if i remember right the watermark on the non-BFK heavyweight lacks the letters "BFK". If true, this would help to identify which paper you have. There is a decent art supply store in town, so I'll see if i can verify this when I go in to town this week.

Butter pecan ice cream sounds yummy!

Cheers,
Keith
jkschreiber.com


On Aug 21, 2010, at 8:58 AM, Colin wrote:

> Anyone notice a glaring difference between the white hues of these papers? The heavysheet white looks distinctly yellow-cream while the bfk seems more a traditional natural white. I've only bought the heavysheet through Blick here in the states so not sure if it's a inventory error or it's actually the correct shade. Customer support says that the paper is made it 2 separate mills, so don't expect the whites to be the same. I said ok, but this ins't a matter of slight differences, the heavysheet  definately looks as if some pigment is added in the pulp stage to get this color. They were unmoved.
> 
> Incidentally, careful ording the white heavysheet from Blick if you expect any traditional interpretation of white to arrive at your door. The stuff looks like melted butter pecan ice cream. Not sure how the other shades match up, but the website still uses the same photo sample to represent all Rives printmaking papers.
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