Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Sonora 320gsm
A 100% cotton warm-toned fine art paper with a wonderfully smooth surface texture.
N.B. Please visit the full listing for important info on some variants.
Made in Switzerland by Ilford
Ilford Galerie Matt Cotton Medina 320gsm
A 100% cotton rag, warm toned paper with a velvety textured surface and no optical brighteners.
Sample of this paper available in:
Ilford Galerie Matte Inkjet Paper Sample Pack
Description
The textured companion to Ilford's new warm toned smooth fine art paper (Sonora) - is Matt Cotton Medina. This paper has a fairly pronounced, structured texture and was clearly popular when shown at CP+ 2019 Japan. The tone is a distinct natural warm tone.
Ilford Say:
The addition of Matt Cotton Medina continues to broaden the offering of professional 100% Cotton products available in the Ilford Galerie range.
Boasting the most luxurious velvety surface texture because of its special coating, the Matt Cotton Medina offers a beautiful natural white toned paper like the traditional artists paper of old. Free of optical brighteners, completely archival and consisting of a sturdier weight, this robust paper is built for longevity, allowing you and your customers to enjoy your beloved art prints for longer.
Construction
Fibre Based
Substrate
100% Cotton
(acid free)
Paper Weight
320 gsm
Surface Texture
Matte, Textured
White Tone
White
Optical Brighteners?
Specifications
Please note: Specifications are provided as a guide only.
We try very hard to keep these up to date and correct, but if a particular specification is really critical to you, then please double check the specification directly with the manufacturer. Some features may of course have caveats not fully described here.
To get more information about a particular specification, use the arrow to get a 'Specxplanation'.
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ConstructionFibre Based
Papers are constructed in two main ways:
Resin Coated papers are the modern approach. These use less fibre and replace the fibre with resin (a nice name for plastic). This means these papers are cheap, strong and robust, but tend to be less attractive to the touch and accept less ink. They tend to have a clinical appearance and it's hard to write on the back of them. They tend to be popular in the consumer and wedding/portrait markets.
Fibre Based papers are traditional papers made without plastic, using only plant fibres. These tend to accept more ink and have a more attractive appearance, and these are the papers most of our customers favour.
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Substrate100% Cotton
What is the paper base made from?
Possibilities include:
- Wood Pulp - the most common and cheapest
- Alpha Cellulose - the best part of wood pulp, separated. Generally tested as archival as cotton etc
- Cotton - the most common fine art paper fibre
- Bamboo - an ecologically friendly alternative to cotton
- Mulberry & more - many other plant fibres can be used to make archival paper
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CoatingMicroporous
These days almost all papers are microporous coated - meaning they'll accept inks from both dye based and pigment printers well.
In years past, some papers had a swellable coating - designed to give a greater life to prints with dye based inks but this approach has fallen out of favour.
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Paper Weight320 gsm
In 'gsm' - grams per square metre.
Not, technically, the same as paper thickness, but obviously correlated. The heft of the paper. European art papers are traditionally generally around the 300gsm mark. Asian papers historically tended to be lighter, 100 to 200 gsm.
Papers with a higher GSM tend to have more opacity, i.e. you see less through them.
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Surface TextureMatte, Textured
What is the surface texture of the paper?
We divide this into six groups. We go by the appearance of the actual paper and not what the manufacturer might label the box with!
- Matte - smooth and texture
- Gloss - semi, gloss, and high gloss
- Double Sided - special case papers that are printable to full quality on both sides.
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White ToneWhite
What is the white tone of the paper?
- Cool White - a paper with a distinctly cool (blue) tone
- Bright White - A paper that is brighter than non brightened papers, but not overly cool
- White - a natural clean white tone for an art paper - most Photo Rag papers fall here
- Warm - a distinctly warmer, creamier paper
- Pearlescent - a distinct warm grey tone (generally found only with metallic papers)
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Compatible InksPigment Inks (use matte black)
Dye Based Inks
What ink type (dye and/or pigments) can you use with the paper?
Also, if using pigment inks and you have a choice, should you use the Matte Black or Photo Black ink?
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Acid Free?
Is this paper acid free?
Acid in paper leads to earlier yellowing and the paper will also become brittle more quickly. Thus for a paper to be archival, it needs to be acid free.
Papers which are not acid free are generally best used for proofing (test printing), and shorter term purposes. That is, they are not considered to be a fine art level product, or suitable for print sales into the art or professional photography markets.
This does not, of course, mean these papers will vanish or discolour overnight - they generally still have life-spans suitable for commercial work and above or on par with e.g. typical photo chemistry papers. They are thus suitable to markets like signage, or the decor market (e.g. print sales for kiddies bedrooms, for example) - but should be avoided if you're trying to sell your work as a serious art level product.
In general, papers made from cotton are naturally acid free, which is one reason they are often favoured. Other fibres, like Kozo, are also naturally acid free. High grade wood pulp papers can also be made to be acid free, however, if the lignin/acid is removed from the pulp.
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Optical Brighteners?
Does the paper contain chemicals in it to brighten its appearance?
More on this here.
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Full Specifications
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Paper Type To Use In DriverSee this article
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Also In This Range
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310gsm
A very smooth 100% cotton rag paper with no optical brighteners.
N.B. Please visit the full listing for important info on some variants.
Ilford Galerie Textured Cotton Rag 310gsm
An 100% cotton rag with a smooth slightly textured surface.