I had looked really closely at your illustration, and had figured the papers were switched. Torchon is one of my most favorite papers. Not spiky but sort of like the surface of slow moving water? I’m getting ready to test lots of sample papers I’ve had around, on the new P7570. Nail biting excitement here! I love your paper tests and discussions.
Super glad you find them helpful. Torchon is certainly a great and interesting paper. I hate to do this to you but... you also might enjoy Awagami Bizan. Think of it as a slightly "softer" Torchon that feels thicker and better in the hand and doubles down on the textural properties of Torchon. Both are great but have their own unique properties that shine depending on the work.
Oho! Eventually I'll try it - I may even have some in a couple of Awagami sample packs somewhere. At the moment I'm surrounded by letter size sample packs because I decided to find and organize all my sample papers and it turned out there were more than I thought - how could that have happened??? I even have some metallics here, which I've always been curious about - although matte papers are definitely my most loved. Matte papers evoke visions of letterpress and silkscreen processes that are somehow utterly seductive. So now I have a stack of selected sample papers about 2" high to test, and I'm assuring myself that I don't have to do it all at once. Still learning how to use Epson media installer, after all. I'm at the partly there but still bumbling stage with this printer.
Maybe I'll share some of my own bumbling stories when I get the chance, like the one where I cut a $5 sheet a paper EXACTLY, PRECISELY, WRONG the other day with my fancy-shmancy paper cutter.
I got sample packs of BFK Rives Pure White and Arches 88 last week and was super impressed. One of my good friends prints only monochrome and has been using BFK Pure White to amazing effect. He had a gallery showing in February in DC of 'Resistance Photographs' he took during various periods last year. I especially liked the Arches 88 as I started printing some years ago on Museo Portfolio Rag (it is too bad that the company lost its way and ended up being subsumed by Hahnemuhle a while back; I still have a box of Artists Cards that I am slowly using up). I like smooth surface matte papers and it's good to have another one to choose from.
My go to matte paper has been Moab Entrada. I will still use it but believe the two Arches papers may displace it. The texture of the BFK Rives is not obtrusive which is good. I'm just waiting for a couple of boxes of them so I can do the profiling for my printer. I'm looking forward to your comments on Arches 88. I need to keep my choice of papers down to a manageable few.😁
Thanks for your comments, Alan. Interestingly, your very last sentence makes an excellent point. Bob and I recommend that you keep your standby, go-to papers down to a mageable few, as you said. Get to know them well. Once you're comfortable with their strengths and weaknesses, experiment with other papers for specific effects you want to enhance your artistic intent with an image.
I'll have a lot to say about the 88 and another SURPRISE paper soon. We still use Moab Entrada Natural as our "base standard" matt paper. We have a lot of experience with it and it's good for just about anything that calls for a matt paper, sort of a meat and potatoes of papers.
I agree that one should keep the number of go-to papers limited and learn them well. That being said depending on your work it's tough to say which one that would be. Having a standard and a lot of experience with it actually prepares you to better evaluate other papers and where they may elevate a particular project or body of work.
For my own work I certainly would not pick a highly textured watercolor paper but others might. The Rives BFK would probably fit a larger variety of subjects and styles. Then the question would be which one.... hummm, the white or the pure white ;-)
In fine art paper, BFK stands for Blanchet Frères & Kiebler, the names associated with the historic Rives paper mill in France. That’s why you’ll often see it in the well-known paper name BFK Rives.
Note: In the illustration comparing Torchon with both Rives BFK papers, the Torchon is on top RIGHT, not left as in the original newsletter sent out.
I had looked really closely at your illustration, and had figured the papers were switched. Torchon is one of my most favorite papers. Not spiky but sort of like the surface of slow moving water? I’m getting ready to test lots of sample papers I’ve had around, on the new P7570. Nail biting excitement here! I love your paper tests and discussions.
Super glad you find them helpful. Torchon is certainly a great and interesting paper. I hate to do this to you but... you also might enjoy Awagami Bizan. Think of it as a slightly "softer" Torchon that feels thicker and better in the hand and doubles down on the textural properties of Torchon. Both are great but have their own unique properties that shine depending on the work.
Oho! Eventually I'll try it - I may even have some in a couple of Awagami sample packs somewhere. At the moment I'm surrounded by letter size sample packs because I decided to find and organize all my sample papers and it turned out there were more than I thought - how could that have happened??? I even have some metallics here, which I've always been curious about - although matte papers are definitely my most loved. Matte papers evoke visions of letterpress and silkscreen processes that are somehow utterly seductive. So now I have a stack of selected sample papers about 2" high to test, and I'm assuring myself that I don't have to do it all at once. Still learning how to use Epson media installer, after all. I'm at the partly there but still bumbling stage with this printer.
Maybe I'll share some of my own bumbling stories when I get the chance, like the one where I cut a $5 sheet a paper EXACTLY, PRECISELY, WRONG the other day with my fancy-shmancy paper cutter.
Aargh!
I got sample packs of BFK Rives Pure White and Arches 88 last week and was super impressed. One of my good friends prints only monochrome and has been using BFK Pure White to amazing effect. He had a gallery showing in February in DC of 'Resistance Photographs' he took during various periods last year. I especially liked the Arches 88 as I started printing some years ago on Museo Portfolio Rag (it is too bad that the company lost its way and ended up being subsumed by Hahnemuhle a while back; I still have a box of Artists Cards that I am slowly using up). I like smooth surface matte papers and it's good to have another one to choose from.
My go to matte paper has been Moab Entrada. I will still use it but believe the two Arches papers may displace it. The texture of the BFK Rives is not obtrusive which is good. I'm just waiting for a couple of boxes of them so I can do the profiling for my printer. I'm looking forward to your comments on Arches 88. I need to keep my choice of papers down to a manageable few.😁
Thanks for your comments, Alan. Interestingly, your very last sentence makes an excellent point. Bob and I recommend that you keep your standby, go-to papers down to a mageable few, as you said. Get to know them well. Once you're comfortable with their strengths and weaknesses, experiment with other papers for specific effects you want to enhance your artistic intent with an image.
I'll have a lot to say about the 88 and another SURPRISE paper soon. We still use Moab Entrada Natural as our "base standard" matt paper. We have a lot of experience with it and it's good for just about anything that calls for a matt paper, sort of a meat and potatoes of papers.
I agree that one should keep the number of go-to papers limited and learn them well. That being said depending on your work it's tough to say which one that would be. Having a standard and a lot of experience with it actually prepares you to better evaluate other papers and where they may elevate a particular project or body of work.
For my own work I certainly would not pick a highly textured watercolor paper but others might. The Rives BFK would probably fit a larger variety of subjects and styles. Then the question would be which one.... hummm, the white or the pure white ;-)
In fine art paper, BFK stands for Blanchet Frères & Kiebler, the names associated with the historic Rives paper mill in France. That’s why you’ll often see it in the well-known paper name BFK Rives.
Thanks Tracy, that saves me a bunch of research time ;-)
I wonder how difficult that will be for me to remember...
Yup. I've learned it at least 20 times now... :-)