Digital BW, The Print

I've used Hahnemule Photorag and German Etching. I heard that Photorag
is the best of the Hanemule's wrt least flaking. Still I have had
problems with Photorag after it prints. It can occur as it exists the
printer, or months afterwards. You can minimise it by brushing with a
drafters brush (lot's of folks do this with any matte paper as a
matter of course). I use this followed by a tiger cloth or anti-static
gloves (Light Impressions has them). I think this technique is also
discussed on the inkjetart.com site.

If you stack the prints after drying, and they get jostled, this can
also cause flaking. Or low humidity like 30 % RH or below (my climate
unfortunately), something like that. If you spray it with a fixative,
it can minimise flaking and you might try stacking then. I had one
print flake on me after the fixative, but it was Epson Velvet not a
Hahnemule. Maybe a freak accident.

I don't know how it would survive shipped in a mailing tube, never
tried it.

I didn't mean to worry you about Photorag; my flaking problems only
happen on a fraction of my prints. Hahemule just does it more than
most other matte papers I use. A drafters brush/anti-static wipe
prevents a lot of this.

Jim Hayes



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard
Smallfield <r.smallfield@p...> wrote:
> Hi,
> I have been using Photo Rag for only a short time and have not yet
noticed any flaking. Is this something that happens after a photo has
been on display for a long time, or does it happen soon after printing?
> 
> I take it that sending a Photo Rag print through the post in a tube
would be a bad idea.
> 
> thanks,
> Richard
> --
> http://smallfield.vze.com
> http://photos.smallfield.vze.com
> 
>    "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's 
>    oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search 
>    for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
>   --John Kenneth Galbraith