Digital BW, The Print

Innova is just about to release some natural surface high grade rag papers. I think 
this may be the way to go from now on. Look at the website 
www.shadesofpaper.com. Buy a sample pack and you won't be dissatisfied.

Personally I've had good results with Hahnemuhle William Turner for natural surface 
that is textured but sharp, and Concorde Rag, a French paper sold by Legion paper 
co in the US.  Concorde Rag has a very warm base and with warm inksets is quite 
beautiful and unique. I did a file yesterday with the Cone Carbon Sepia inkset on 
both of these papers and liked them both a lot. William Turner has better dmax and 
is a bit sharper but can scuff in the blacks if not sprayed. I always spray it with 
something, same with German Etching.

Concorde Rag has a little more dot gain but resembles Platinum with warm inks. The 
rolls of Concorde Rag are not the same paper as the sheets and should be avoided 
in my opinion. I also use Premier Art Hotpress if there are not a lot of big areas of 
pure black. It is a very nice very sharp resolution paper but will not achieve the 
dmax of the Hahnemuhle papers, or the fine new media from Innova. I actually use 
the Premier Art more for pigment color when things need to be really photographic in 
appearance. It can be outstanding with the right type of file. But I may dump most of 
these for Innova. We will see.

John