In The Pocket

Just bought one, and put a couple of sheets through the printer.

First of all, I’m not all that sure I like the surface, nor the feel of that paper. I haven’t seen a gelatin silver print in ages, but it’s not how I remember it. I think I have to dig through the old boxes at my fathers house and see what I can find. Not that it matters anyway. If I don’t like it, it’s not that important.

I won’t deny that the tones you can get on this paper is marvelous. It’s just something that I can’t put my finger on yet. I’ll just wait and see. Maybe I’ll figure it out, or maybe the paper grows on me. Bronzing is an issue with this paper. More than any I’ve seen since I printed on some non labeled glossy paper on my Canon i905D printer many years ago. Maybe it’s the bronzing that breaks the magic when I see the seen in the print surface.

One thing that is a bit annoying is how sensitive the surface is. These prints must be handled with white gloves, and be wrapped in soft tissue. If you let two sheets of paper rub against each other, you will have marks. This is in sharp contrast to the Fina Art Pearl, that is very scratch resistant. At least the area that has received ink.

Talking about the feel of the paper. When I first picked up a sheet of Cotton Rag paper, I immediately fell in love. There is a kind of natural softness to those papers. The Fine Art Pearl is a bit similar. Well, obviously the printed surface is not so, but the back of the paper is a bit rough. The Harman paper didn’t feel that much like natural paper. I know this is a bit far out, but I do enjoy holding the prints and feel the structure of the paper. I’m a weirdo, I know.

One more thing. In the middle of writing this post, I had to spend some quality time at the little room. I brought along a print, and you won’t believe what I saw. In the spot lights on our bathroom suddenly a rainbow appeared on the surface of the print. It was caused by a spot behind me, above and to the side.

I really wanted to like this paper. There was so many good reviews of it, and the price was very nice compared to other comparable papers. I think I will try the Ilford variant. Same-same, but different, and still a decent price.

UPDATE:

After reading a bit what others have experienced with this paper, I may reconsider. It seems like the paper swell a bit from the ink, and this will of course affect the look. I must take a closer look at the prints when they are completely dry. This may also be why I found the surface so delicate.

The bronzing issue puzzles me a bit. Everywhere I look, this is disregarded as a non-issue. Could this also be related to wet prints, or maybe something to do with the profile. The most obvious bronzing on the three prints I made was in some blueish shadows on a color print. The BW print I made had very little bronzing.