Paper for Alternative Printing Processes

[faberryman]

Arches Platine appears to be the recommended paper for alternative printing processes, but it is expensive. Can someone recommend a less expensive paper for someone just starting out. There are so many different watercolor papers at my local Plaza Art Supply that it is difficult to even know where to begin selecting one.

[bob carnie]

COT 320 is super, Hannamuhle Platinum is presumed good, I use Revere for my duotone gum over palladium and its great.

I do like Arches Platine - be careful there is a really bad batch out there right now and at $16 a pop its really bad situation.

[SergeiR]

Arches Platine appears to be the recommended paper for alternative printing processes, but it is expensive. Can someone recommend a less expensive paper for someone just starting out. There are so many different watercolor papers at my local Plaza Art Supply that it is difficult to even know where to begin selecting one.

Which one of processes ? E.g. for van dyke i had great success with cheap canson watercolor paper from hobby lobby ( yeah not trendy , I know,but hey). Kalitypes less successful with same paper

[interneg]

You want to be careful about avoiding heavily alkaline buffered papers & ones that are gelatin sized - between these requirements an awful lot of contemporary art papers are not ideal

Arches Platine was made to comply with these requirements - Ruscombe Mill in France also make several papers - I believe Talas imports them to the USA. Ruscombe sometimes offer 'seconds' direct from their website - see the bottom of http://www.ruscombepaper.com/contents/en-uk/d29_Buxton_Talbot.html

[Andrew O'Neill]

I use Arches Platine when I can get my hands on it but as Bob stated, it's bloody expensive up here (I can get it at $12 per 22x30). Stonehenge is much cheaper and works very well for kallitypes, vandykes, cyanotypes...but only if you give it an acid bath first to break down the alkaline buffers. I use sulfamic acid, which is ceramic tile cleaner and can be bought at any hardware store (I buy bulk from local chem supplier...heaps, I say, heaps cheaper!). The cheapest paper I've ever used is a pack of 10 for a buck fifty from Daiso, a Japanese dollar store. But it also needs acidifying...

[Taija71A]

Arches Platine appears to be the recommended paper for alternative printing processes, but it is expensive...

If you should still decide to go with the ARCHES® Platine...
I recently discovered a Paper Supplier that is clearing it out -- At a discount.

Send me a PM...
And then you can check for yourself regarding the current availability and specific batch information.
--
Thank-you! Best Regards, -Tim.

[jp]

I've mostly used arches platine for cyanotypes. I have also used some cheap 50-sheet sketch pad paper like Canson from a local odd lots discount retailer. It's not much money to buy the sketch paper to try it, and if it does not work, cross it off your list and give it to some kid that likes to draw. Thinner paper has more contrast than arches platine; Not unmanagable, but if you're using digital negatives you would need to recalibrate. The thinner paper is more translucent so if sensitizer soaks in, the deeper soaked stuff will have the nearly same exposure as that on the surface.