Cyanotype does better when the chemistry absorbs within the paper fibers, within reason. Salt does better when the silver nitrate stays on top of the paper surface and not within the paper fibers. Note also the shorter tonal range and the blue-gray color of the paper on the left.Some processes perform best on non-absorbent papers. The left side is a paper that would not be my first choice and the right side is a good choice both grain-wise and tonally.
Fabriano Artistico is an excellent paper for gum and casein, for instance, but it isn’t good for other processes unless it is pre-acidified in a sulfamic acid bath before printing. Often a sizing of gelatin or PVA is used which in a way “levels the playing field.” This is not so true for processes such as salted paper, cyanotype, argyrotype, Vandyke Brown, platinum, and ziatype.
CANSON OPALUX TRANSLUCENT PAPER LARGE SIZE MANUAL
When I wrote my gum books ( Gum Printing and Other Amazing Contact Printing Processes and Gum Printing: A Step by Step Manual Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice), paper choices were simple: most 140 lb/300 gsm watercolor papers work because gum and casein mainly need good wet strength to withstand multiple water baths, and buffering does not present a problem.
My processes of choice are gum, casein, salted paper, cyanotype, and to a lesser extent, platinum (most often in combination with cyanotype). There is nothing more frustrating for a professor than recommending a paper on a syllabus and having students spend their limited dollars on something that ultimately produces poor-quality prints. That, coupled with a pale, washed-out, blue-gray color was a deal-breaker. I remember years ago, teaching traditional cyanotype in my alt class, seeing a lot of minute white speckles cropping up on one particular paper that formerly had been a favorite. Worse, formerly excellent papers have gone the buffered route to increase their archival properties-not good for many of the processes we practice-or changed somehow in composition to render them problematic, most often without any notice to the consumer. This is the test image I use over and over to test all papers so I can compare apples to apples.Over the last twenty years of practicing alternative processes, good papers for alt have come and gone on the market-Weston Diploma Parchment being one example. On the right is a cold press paper with its distinctive bumpy surface. On the left is Frankfurt, a very creamy white paper that has an unusual wavy line texture. Often a cream-colored paper balances out the blue of cyanotype quite nicely. White, off white, and cream colors vary so buy one sheet at a time when starting out. Anderson spends her hard earned money ($1613) on paper research for cyanotype papers and generously shares the results.
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