Digital BW, The Print

David,

In all fairness to Hawk Mountain and the other paper manufacturers I 
have to point out the Kodak, Agfa, Ilford, etc. have never told us 
the blend of the silver halides they use nor the source of the 
gelatin it is mixed in nor nature of the clay sub coating nor the 
nature of the paper substrate.

The uniqueness of each company's formulas, materials and processes is 
their (they hope) competitive edge. Having worked in the chemical 
industries this type of information is pretty closely guarded.

The problem here is that we are on the frontier and how the various 
inks react with the different paper coatings is not well understood 
and everything is rapidly changing.  In the silver paper world they 
all pretty much worked and it was just a mater of personal taste.

Now if all the manufacturers came together and shared all their 
information this would advance much more quickly, but how do the 
individual companies, especially the smaller ones, benefit 
financially?

Martin


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., davidhatton@t... wrote:
>  <diana@h...> wrote:
> 
> > Kaolin, Calcium Carbonate, Gelatin, Silica, Starch, PVA are some 
> ingredients
> > of inkjet coatings, of course with many other ingredients and in 
> many
> > different combinations. Our coating recipes often include 10-12 
> different
> > ingredients.
> 
> See that's the problem. You guys keep this stuff close to your 
chest 
> so people become dependant on you.
> 
> 
> > 
> > Just curious, why do you want to coat your own papers for inkjet 
> printing?
> > There are many coated papers available which work very well with 
> quadtone
> > inks and have been tested for compatibility and stability.
> 
> Paper manufacturers are notorious for changing components without 
> telling the end user. 
> One of the main uses (I believe) for using 'alternate processes' 
> besides there inherent beauty and craft is independance from the 
big 
> boys of photography.
> 
> Everybody complains about Epson chipping their carts but then they 
go 
> and buy piezography which is, according to the maker, tied in to 
the 
> ink..don't unnerstand it....;?)
> 
> DH