Digital BW, The Print

Hi Martin, hi Antonis, hi everybody


At first let me thank you for inviting me to join this list. 
So far I´ve only been a member of the piezo list where I´ve 
learned a lot of you piezo-guys while my input was rather small. 
Thank you all for your generous attitude in sharing your 
experiences.
So what could be my input to this list.
Well, I know that the German Fine Art Papers of the Hahnemühle 
are loved a lot by Fine Art Printers world wide. Unfortunately there 
has been great confusion in the past about their papers caused 
by different labels used by different distributors, coating changes 
by Hahnemühle and private coatings of resellers. But 
nevertheless W. Turner (Wells River and so on ), German 
Etching (Orwell and so on) and for some of us Torchon too, 
seem to be recognized as first choice papers if it comes to the 
high end.
But there have been some critics too. 
The surface-character of Torchon is disputed (loved by some, 
hated by others – depending on the kind of images to be 
reproduced I suppose).
The surface of W. Turner is criticised a lot because of flaking 
problems and its haptic characteristics (sandy!!).  Even the 
surface of German Etching is not satisfying for everybody (not 
smooth enough and sometimes flaking). 
I tried to transmitt those critics to Hahnemühle in the past and 
surprise: they took it serious and even admitted the problems. 
As a consolation they told me, that they will come up with a new 
paper in August/September which should resolve those 
problems. It is called PHOTO RAG and will be 100% rag/cotton, 
acid free with a smoother surface than W. Turner while keeping 
its print characteristics.
I´ll get some sample sheets this week and will report on their 
printing characteristics with piezo inks next week. Lets see if it 
holds promise.

Well I´m no Hahnemühle employee, so what else is new  at the 
German Fine Art Paper Front:
Someone of the piezo-list –guys mentioned Schoellershammer 
papers some weeks ago. Schoellershammer is a traditional 
German paper mill too, some hundred years old. They are 
producing fine art inkjet papers for some times , what  I didn´t 
know until now. Meanwhile I ordered a sample pack, which 
arrived some days ago, and I printed some papers. Here come 
some PLELIMINARY results:

1. All papers are acid free 100 % rag
2. Schoellershammer claim to have optimized coating for dye 
based inks (what doesn´t exclude to use pigment-inks)
3. their labeling is absolutely confusion to me that means: 
although they call some of  their paper qualities rough, these are 
very very smooth (sic!!!)
4. they have at least one paper, which may be an absolute 
winner for piezo-users

1. paper quality is called:	Watercolor Quality: Torchon, 200 gsm
2. paper quality is called:	Watercolor/Pastel Quality: Rough, 200 
gsm
3. paper quality is called:	Watercolor Quality: Rough, 225, 300 
gsm
4. paper quality is called:	Oilcolor Quality: Coarse Linen, 200, 
300 gsm

ad 1. Torchon is rather alike Torchon of Hahnemühle, special 
surface for special indications in my opinion, not my game, 
didn´t print on it yet.
ad 2. Pastell rough 200gsm:  didn´t take the piezo ink very well, 
overall impression was: flaw. But I had only one sheet and 
printed with the Orwell profile, so maybe another profile works 
better. But 200 gsm is a little thin, no?

ad 3: Watercolor rough: had only two sheets. One 225 and one 
300. printed on the 225 sheet with the Orwell profile first:  result 
too dark, no serious comment possible. Printed the second 
sheet (300) after some curve tweaking in PS and surprise: it 
came out like my best prints on Epson Archival Matte, Somerset 
or even German Etching.
A winner for piezo, I believe (so far). 
Why: It is 100 % rag, it has 300gsm, the surface is a lot 
smoother than W. Turner, even significantly smoother than 
German Etching though a very little less smooth than Epsom 
Archival Matte. The color is like German Etching, which means 
not as bright white as EAM. Print Quality was surprisingly good if 
you take in account that the paper is not profiled yet and I took the 
Orwell profile by chance.
I ordered some sheets and will report again. Hope the paper 
fulfils my expectations.
ad 4.: Coarse linen: nothing for serious fine art printing in my 
opinion. Like Hahnemühle Canvas Artist. Didn´t print on it.

So to answer my question about a possible input to this list:
As I am aware of the language barrier some of the users might 
have when they have questions or comments with reference to 
the German Fine Art Papers I could offer to be a transmitter of 
our critics and wishes to the German industry. If that is 
appreciated – feel free to contact me onlinne or offline.

So long.
And good luck to the list.
Bernd Langmack
Essen, Germany