Digital BW, The Print

Martin,

consider this calculation:

100 sheets of Torchon at the price you found them.......$ 390
CA sales tax and shipping about.......................................$   40
TOTAL.................................................................................... $ 430

OR

100 sheet of Torchon at $2.14.............................................$ 214
Filemaker Pro 5......................................................................$ 249
Shipping about ......................................................................$   25
TOTAL..................................................................................... $ 488

Net cost to buy Filemaker 5.5...............................................$   58  !!

And, no I don't work for filemaker or mediastreet.

Now for the facts:

11x17 Torchon at Digital Art Supplies ................................. 3.90
11x17 Torchon at mediastreet.com....................................... 2.13

11x17 Structure 150 at DASupplies.......................................2.12
11x17 Aspen Moguls 150 gsm/70 lb. at mediastreet.com..1.45

Structure 150 has a dmax of 1.68 with piezo - typical of Hahnemuehle. It is 
among the lightest with deep black. I never looked too closely, because I can't 
imagine anything bigger than letter size, and at the time I thought that EAM at 
40 cents a letter sheet and  192 gsm was a no brainer. Frankly it still is for me 
(the cheapest Structure is 1.04 a letter sheet).

And you don't mention where you get German Etching. Would that qualify you 
for the... server edition of Filemaker (http://store.filemaker.com/r1.html)?? <g>

For those reading this and not following what I am getting at:
In the Files section of this group you will find a FileMaker database with paper 
info as I have been gathering since earlier this year. Many have tried using 
other programs to access the data (also available in other formats) , spending 
a fair amount of time and effort. While there is nothing wrong with that route, at 
the end you don't get the powerful scripts and layouts that make accessing the 
information a breeze. Also, every time I update it, you have to do the work all 
over again. 

So, I am suggesting here that the cost of buying the program can be defrayed 
by the potential savings you may get being steered to the best source for a 
paper. I realize this isn't for everyone and there are inherent limitations: you 
may be using papers or sources or inksets not listed, you may be a power 
user with high-end databases etc.  But, hey, the data is free!!!
By the way, Filemaker runs on both Mac and PC.

I hope this is of practical use to someone.

Antonis



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., mwesley250@e... wrote:
> On the paper front:
> 
> Received my shipment of the Schoellershammer Velvet 225 from Digital 
> Art Supplies and ran of 4 Piezo test prints using the Orwell, 
> Concorde Rag, ConeTech Matte and Epson Photo Paper profiles.
> 
> I find it to be very similar to Museo with comparable blacks and 
> color. The surface is smoother, about halfway between Epson Archival 
> Matte and Museo. It should coat very nicely and I will give it a try. 
> The base color is perhaps a little whiter than Museo. Seems to be not 
> quite as sharp as Museo.
> 
> Leaving EAM aside because of the archival issues, my favorites are 
> still Torchon, with German Etching and Turner in second place. Of 
> course with a sheet price of $4 for 11x17 Torchon I don't know how 
> much I will be using! Torchon with the Schoellershammer Velvet 
> surface would be just about perfect for the pigment inks.
> 
> Digital Art Supplies shipped me a nice set of swatches, which 
> included Hahnemule Structure 150. This looks like a whiter, lower 
> textured lightweight version of Torchon, perhaps too light. Has 
> anyone given this a try with Piezo? Opinions?
> 
> I also noted that Digital Art Supplies carries the full Hahnemule 
> line under their original names and a very large selection of other 
> papers as well.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Martin Wesley