Digital BW, The Print

Paul is right, some of my favorite prints have been made on Arches, including the very first inkjet prints I ever made on an "art" paper before there was any coated inkjet papers on the market. I think it's heavy gelatin tub sizing is unique making it take ink a bit better than other watercolor papers.
What Paul is working on is very different from what I've done with it, but I can appreciate the effort, the reasons for it, and certainly the choice of this paper.
You have a RIP Michael, you should try it.
Tyler

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pr_roark" <paul.roark@...> wrote:
>
> Michael King <drmrking@> wrote:
> >
> > Paul,
> > 
> > Why so keen on it working with Arches uncoated watercolor ?
> > 
> 
> Arches has a great reputation in the art field and is the only watercolor paper I've found that has an acceptable dmax.  None of the inkjet papers has stood the test of time. Coatings of any kind will probably cause problems way down the road, though I am certainly not stopping my use of inkjet papers.
> 
> The Arches can be surfaced washed with very minimal loss of carbon.  This stops the rub-off.  The resulting print is very durable and resistant to abrasion.  If the paper is not totally flat, a hot press makes it so.  The internal gelatin sizing holds the hot pressed flatness.
> 
> Arches is readily available in sheets and cheaper than most of the best inkjet papers.
> 
> The watercolor paper is free from the flaking problems of inkjet papers.  It can also be easily retouched, tinted, and painted on after the image is printed.  
> 
> It is my intent to merge carbon printing with the watercolor medium.  How much watercoloring or tinting is needed to remove the stigma that holds down the prices of photos because they are "multiples" that can be easily reproduced is an open question.  However, having the hand of the artist be the last and a significant part of the product may be necessary to avoid the "print" category.  Moving the medium up the food chain in terms of how much people will pay for it is an interesting possibility.  I'm going to be collaborating with a few watercolorists to see what we can come up with.
> 
> And, it's an interesting challenge, which is probably enough in and of itself.  I've always considered "carbon on cotton" to be a medium that can hold its own with any, but we've been fudging a bit on this with color pigs in the mix and coatings on paper.  I think carbon on Arches gets us closer to what I see as a purist medium that does not have to apologize for or feel second rate compared to anything.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com
>