Digital BW, The Print

>> This is my first post.  I am a papermaker interested in making  
handmade sheets of Gampi for  digital printmakers.  To do so will  
require a mould suited to your medium.  Mould making is a very  
demanding skill so the correct dimension is essential. Are there  
standard sizes and weights? If so, please advise which are most widely  
used. Are the deckles trimmed?  I am using 100% Gampi. The color is a  
natural buff but I could whiten it with additives. Any advise would be  
very useful .

Inkjet sizes are ideally based on the smaller dimension fitting one of the standard printer widths, and the length being, typically, 1.5 times that width, though other ratios would also be desirable. The printer widths are 13", 17", 24",  and then possibly 36", as well as 42". You might not want to produce all those widths; and the larger of the sizes may not be practical for you, but that would be the ideal lineup. 

Deckle edges are wonderful, and would provide a "striking" handmade effect, but would need to be carefully taped, to assure they do not cause jams and head strikes in the printer. Providing pretaped deckle edges, with a removable tape, would be a very unique feature. 

Whiteners are quite undesirable in a pH balanced, acid free, long life paper, as they fade out over time, and may even cause cascade effects that fade the inks as well. Some papers are offered in both a whitened and a natural version, to let customers choose for themselves. 

Coatings are another issue. Many papers use an opaque white coating, so that the substrate is totally hidden by the coating. A very few inkjet users print on uncoated rag papers, and accept the reduced color gamut and weaker blacks as a side effect of that choice. There are also less common transparent coatings that reside inside, not on top of the media, that can produce an excellent gamut, while retaining the look and feel of the substrate.

A neutralized Gampi paper, with taped deckle edges and a transparent coating, in convenient inkjet sizes would be a very tempting product. Best of luck! 


C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager
Digital Imaging and Home Theater
Datacolor inc. 
cdtobie@...
www.datacolor.com

On Apr 21, 2010, at 4:35 PM, "gumkeith" <gumkeith@...> wrote:

> This is my first post.  I am a papermaker interested in making handmade sheets of Gampi for  digital printmakers.  To do so will require a mould suited to your medium.  Mould making is a very demanding skill so the correct dimension is essential. Are there standard sizes and weights? If so, please advise which are most widely used. Are the deckles trimmed?  I am using 100% Gampi. The color is a natural buff but I could whiten it with additives. Any advise would be very useful .


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