[alt-photo] Need Your Recommendations for New Alt-Process Paper

[Francesco Fragomeni]

Hi all,

I know that paper selection is a common discussion especially when new
papers are released and great old papers are discontinued. It seems to be a
never ending conversation. I'm in the process of setting up my facilities
and purchasing materials for alt-processes (primarily Pt/Pl and Cyanotype).
I've printed Pt/Pl before but only with friends (dedicated Pt/Pl printers)
in their darkrooms so I had the ease of not having to think about or stock
my own materials. Now comes the time to stock up on paper. I've used Cranes
Platinotype and Bergger COT for Pt/Pl and mainly Bergger COT for Cyanotype.
I still have some Bergger left but this past week when I went to order more
from Bostick & Sullivan I saw that they had none and when I called to see
when they would be getting more in, it did not seem as though they were
expecting it anytime soon. I've heard rumors that it might be discontinued
but I have no way of substantiating that. I would be very interested in
hearing what the currently available papers are for those of you printing
Pt/Pl, Platinum, and Palladium. I'll need to do some experimenting to find
my paper of choice and then I'll probably buy as much as I can store.

Also, I've read quite a bit about people being unhappy with currently
available papers because of the low acidity of the papers. It seems that
many are turning to acidification techniques of fine art papers available at
art stores rather then depending on disappearing papers made for Pt/Pl. Does
anyone have any insight on this?

I've only been a member of the group for about 24 hours and many of you have
already been immensely helpful. Thank you very much!

Best,
Francesco Fragomeni