Digital BW, The Print

Point well taken Clayton.  I do use some Alpha Cellulose papers such as German Etching 
for production type work and might consider it for my personal work as it is really nice.  I 
have read conflicting information on the German Etching which states that it is 100% Alpha 
Cellulose acid free and ohter info that it is 75% cotton and 25% Alpha Cellulose acid free.  
And even more confusing is the fact that is is labeled as "natural" white but with Optical 
Brightners.  In any case, it is a nice paper.  Appaerently, MediaStreet sells the same stuff 
under the Royal Plush name AND they have had it tested by Wilhelm to at least 100 years 
with their inks so that looks encouraging.  No doubt the technology is advancing at a very 
fast pace but Wilhelm is pretty down on the use of Optical Brightners and most other 
papers with Optical Brightners tested by Wilhelm such as Sommerset Velvet for Epson have 
about half the fade resistance as say UltraSmooth with B&W work.  How much of that is 
due to the Optical Brightners and How much to the coating used is a big question.  It is 
notable that Premier states the following for their new Luster Rag paper:

"A high quality digital inkjet paper acid free base made of 100% cotton rag. Fine art 
photographers, artists, and archivists are all interested in archival prints that will last 
generations.  Traditionally, the most durable substrate for this market is paper made from 
100% cotton.  Cotton fiber is up to 10 times stronger than cellulous and naturally acid and 
lignin free. Luster Rag paper is 2% archival buffered to give added protection against 
contaminants."

This is almost verbatim to the info on the site I posted and one of the key ideas is that 
Cotton is naturally acid and lignin free where as the Alpha Cellulose papers have high 
lignin and acid content which must be removed through other chemical processes which 
could leave their own harmful residues.  So the question to me becomes "why take the 
chance?"  For the manufacturers, the Reason is clearly a matter of Cost Savings in using 
cheaper Wood Pulp vs. more expensive Cotton.  

It is encouraging that some manufactuers are now stateing that the coatings used are acid 
free but the only real way to be somewhat confident in the acrchival qualities of a 
particular paper/ink combo is Wilhelm or a Time machine.  

Tariq

 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton Jones" <cj@c...> wrote:
> Hello Tariq,
> 
> >Here is an excerpt from a great site on Artist Materials:
> >Taken from this page: http://www.trueart.info/paper_chemistry.htm
> 
> >So, given the choice, 100% Cotton would be the safest, most tested 
> >archival material to use
> 
> 
> I went to that site to have a look, and found this at the top and
> bottom of the article:
> 
> "(Excerpts from ART HARDWARE: The Definitive Guide to Artists' 
>  Materials, by Steven Saitzyk © 1987)"
> 
> That was written 18 years ago.  When I did some research the other day
> I found several sites saying in effect that modern techniques reduce
> the pulp to pure cellulose, which is basically what cotton is, and has
> the same longevity.  Enter it in google and see what comes up.  Here
> are a couple of sample quotes:
> 
> "Today there is a process designed to isolate the cellulose from the
> wood resins to produce "high alpha cellulose" which promises to be
> comparable to most rag papers in longevity."
> 
> "High Alpha Cellulose: A very pure form of wood pulp which is
> considered to have the same longevity as cotton or other plant
> fibers."
> 
> I also found a lot of material similar to the one you quoted, but the
> ones that had dates were all older.  I even found a site that had
> industry standards, but even the latest standards were last revised in
> 2000.  I've had several conversations over the past months with the
> tech people at some of the inkjet paper companies, and they all say
> the word they're getting from the manufacturers where they buy their
> stock is that new technology is advancing and the new AC papers are
> essentially pure cellulose without any lignen.
> 
> Maybe you are right in that we probably won't know for sure for
> another 200 years or so.  But with the fast pace of technology today,
> I think these new papers are not something we have to worry about.
> 
> I'm also being told similar things about OBAs, that the technology has
> improved and the modern stuff doesn't have the same adverse effects.
> 
> So who do we believe in all this?  Are they outright lying or
> stretching the truth?  We each have to make up our own mind I guess. 
> One drawback about the web is that old information is still floating
> around out there, so we have to do our research carefully.  But you
> are certainly correct that 100% cotton is the safest choice - you
> can't go wrong using that.  One big question in my mind, though, is
> what about the coatings?  I hardly ever see that discussed.  
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Clayton
> 
> 
> Info on black and white digital printing at    
> http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm