Printing on Fiber Paper - need some tips

Robin Bell (well known UK printer) uses a blotter too. It suits his constant throughput very well and allows prints to trickle out into the dry mounting press for their final zap before being filed away.

The advantage to drying them almost (but not completely) the whole way on a blotter then pressing them with heat is that you do not get a very slight orange peel affect that you can get if a paper goes bone dry and is then pressed under heat. You'll never see the difference under glass and its hard enough even with loose prints.
 
Pirate said:
"I wonder why the course leader feels the need to insist on fibre."

It's for learning purposes. It's best to learn the early stuff, then you can better appreciate the newer, easier ways of working. It's school....

I did find that they have a press hidden away in the lab, and I have plenty of encyclopedias for the overnight pressure.

Thanks gang!
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Yeah, sort of... I always liked the approach of getting REALLY GOOD with an inferior but easier technlogy, and then being shown that the more difficult technology could be EVEN BETTER if you were willing to put the work in. Otherwise, plenty will try to run before they can walk.

But of course, this is pure kibitzing and back-seat driving. I have no idea what your course is like.

Cheers,

R.
 
bobbyrab said:
Maybe I've been using the wrong RC papers, but I always found FB to be so much nicer than anything I printed on RC. I'm prepared to be convinced otherwise, but I didn't think RC good for anything worthwhile......R
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Nicer in what way?
 
The finish I think, FB has the look and feel of paper and I really like the finish of the surface, whereas RC is a piece of plastic and looks like it, it's the difference between leather and vinyl. I prefer RC in Gloss to Matt, the Matt just looked too flat. I don't imagine there's a great deal of difference in the tonal range of the papers though, but I never spent any time comparing them. I've never seen any serious prints for sale printed on RC paper, I don't know why that is though.
 
I agree with Roger. Its much better to learn with RC IMHO for the following reasons:

Most basic lessons (contrast, density, flashing, fogging etc), will remain the same with FB.
It's cheaper.
Develops, fixes, washes and dries much more quickly. This means you get to learn 'more' in a given period of time.
It does not require flattening so easier to file away prints as you learn.

Having a play with fibre here and there is useful, but until you become a good printer its wasted on you frankly. Sure, with FB you can experiment more with novel developers (as FB paper does not incorporate developer) and changing dev time, but I do not believe a person should mess with these things until they have the above well and truly nailed down. Until you can make bloody good prints with a fixed development time and with fairly normal developers, there will be nothing to be gained by making things more complicated.

Just personal opinion of course.
 
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The way to get fibre papers to dry flat (ish) is to have a clothes line and clothes pegs over your sink area. When the prints are washed hang them back-to-back with the top and bottom corners pegged together (assuming you left a plain border). This encourages the prints to dry evenly. You may still get some curl along the edges, but this is now far easier to flatten with the usual methods like a pile of books etc.

Steve
 
I also use the above sometimes, esp when its hot in my darkroom (summer) as rapid drying induces lots more curling than slow drying in winter!
 
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