Digital BW, The Print

>... opinions on which Epson papers are most archival when displayed 
>under glass and printed with UT inks please? 

Epson UltraSmooth and Epson Premium Semigloss sprayed with PremierArt Print
Shield have done the best in my initial fade tests.  However, I have not
tested a huge number of papers, and the margin of these 2 over others is not
that great.  In particular, the other non-flaking matte papers from PermaJet
and Innova, below, have not been tested, but I expect them to do well.  I
have a bias toward papers with no or little optical brighteners ("OBAs").
Both UltraSmooth and Premium Semigloss have no OBAs.

>I'm trying to retain the look of a photograph, so less texture is better.  
>(Although, I really like the character of the deep, saturated 
>blacks possible with inks.)

Try some Premium Semigloss or Premium Semimatte sprayed with PremierArt.  

>I've read about flaking and other issues with non-OEM papers.  
>Is this just as much an issue with Epson papers? 

UltraSmooth doesn't flake and is probably the same as PremierArt Fine Art
Hot Press.  Permajet Imagelife papers don't flake significantly (Jobo
800-664-0344, mention my name for a discount), nor do Innova papers
(www.shadesofpaper.com).  A little compressed air on the surface of paper is
not a bad idea for any sheet that will be a final print.

> They charge an awfully high price for their papers.   Are there 
>other brands of paper that are better or more economical ...

PremierArt has a 205 weight of its Fine Art Hot Press that is quite
economical for such a paper.  MIS (www.inksupply.com) and www.ITSupplies.com
carries it.

The best bargain in matte acid free papers may be 210 weight Premier Imaging
Premium Matte paper. This double sided paper has a huge dmax of over 1.7 and
is cheap -- 50 letter-size sheets for $13 at Photo Warehouse (the retail arm
of Premier Imaging).  It is a highly brightened (lots of OBAs) paper.  See
http://www.photowarehouse.biz/premier.html .  This paper is so new that I
have not yet had a chance to write curves for it.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com