Brown craft paper ok for initial 24 hours drying?

[SeanEsopenko]

Epson papers come with instructions that recommend placing "plain" printer paper on a print during it's first 24 hours of drying. I do this because I notice less bronzing of the print down the road. We have rolls of craft paper and I'm curious if anybody thinks it would be a bad idea to use this instead of individual sheets of computer paper? It's a little silly to put a bunch of sheets over a 24x30 print when I can simply cut one sheet of craft paper.

Is it risky to put the brown paper over it for 24 hours? Would tannins leak through to the print? Or does anybody think it would be fine?

[Dan Daniel]

I bought some sheets of quality watercolor paper at an art store for stacking prints in the first 24 hours. The sheets can be reused. Seemed safer than cheap paper. If you are doing tens or hundreds of prints a day this could really add up, of course.

[Drew Wiley]

Kinda risky. Acids etc might migrate from Kraft into a print which is still not truly dry.

[Nathan Potter]

Yes, kinda risky. Any significantly acidic paper slowly gives of SO3 gas which will be absorbed into the damp inkjet ink and the paper. The unknown is how much? Maybe not significant but when I'm fussy about archivability I won't take a chance.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[SeanEsopenko]

I bought some sheets of quality watercolor paper at an art store for stacking prints in the first 24 hours. The sheets can be reused. Seemed safer than cheap paper. If you are doing tens or hundreds of prints a day this could really add up, of course.

I think I'll go this route. Thanks for the idea!

[AtlantaTerry]

Back in the '60s I had a 16x20 paper dryer (Arkay?) that used fans to blow heated air through stacked sheets of corrugated cardboard. Between the sheets of cardboard were sheets of acid-free linen.

You might want to try acid-free linen instead of office paper which is not going to be acid-free.

[AtlantaTerry]

Epson should know better than to suggest using paper that is not acid-free.

[Adamphotoman]

I print on a 44 inch printer and I print with rolls. The prints are both wet and have quite a curl from the memory of having been in a 3 inch roll for who knows how long. My solution was to use heavy Stonehenge drawing paper which is also supplied in a roll. I taped 100 inches to a 3 inch cardboard core. After the prints have been made I back roll them in the acid free cotton Stonehenge and leave them for a few hours. Now I get flat dry prints and I can reuse the Stonehenge over and over again.

Printing flat sheets should use a different flat application, or your prints will take on a curl.