They're pretty much the same. We tested some and had it put aside in a
warehouse at a distributor we replenish this stock periodically by testing
the batches. Cranes was willing to do this for us about 10 years ago due to
the constant bugging they got from pt printers about paper.
Originally we tried to buy the AS8111 stationery from them. They said that
we had to have an "upscale" store. At that time the only two places you
could buy it in 250 sheet boxes was at Frances Orr in Beverly Hills. They
charged $125.00 per box!! No lie. The other was Fowler Bros. downtown and
they only were asking $75.00 I was buying and selling at a loss and this
was the paper recommended in KOL and folks thought it was the only paper
you could print on.
We just told people who wanted to print on AS8111 to call Cranes. One day
Cranes called us and innocently asked if we would carry it and get these
as*holes out of their hair. Real words. We are now the Cranes Stationery
Products distributor for the whole Southwest and I don't have a clue what
that really means.
As for the Platinotype: Dick Arentz had this designed after casually
talking about the problem with a person at a gallery reception. He
mentioned his difficulties with paper and bemoaned the fact the Cranes
Artificial parchment was no longer made. The guy said, "I'll fix that! My
father owns the company." Dick says he almost fainted. He had no idea who
the guy was. He went up to Cranes and the built this paper for him.
We became the sole distributors for this paper which was called Platinotype
at that time. Some of this paper fell into the hands of some printers in
some print shops that Cranes owns. Seems they specialize in diplomas and
certificates, etc. They loved it and said it solved some of the problems
they had been having with their printing. Cranes then had some other
printers test it and it went into full production under the name of cover
stock. We still use the name Platinotype for sentimental reasons. If we
don't someone else will and totally confuse the issue.
Paper is a pain in the buttocks for us. It's a pain to ship and when
problems occur in printing folks will either blame the paper (likely) or
the chemistry (unlikely).
End of story
Dick Sullivan
Bostick & Sullivan
PO Box 16639, Santa Fe
NM 87506
505-474-0890 FAX 505-474-2857
http://www.bostick-sullivan.com