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Made in Europe and Japan by Ilford

Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Sprite 280gsm

An affordable but still very high quality, 280gsm, 100% cotton rag paper with a smooth surface.

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▪ This product has been discontinued. A new version will be released later in 2026
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Sprite 280gsm Master Image
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Sprite 280gsm Master Image

Description

Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Sprite is a medium weight, 100% Cotton Rag paper with a “ultra smooth” surface with a natural white base tint. It is ideal for interior décor applications and art reproduction of fine art, pop art and artistic illustrations.

Made by master paper makers in Japan!

  • Ultra smooth surface
  • 100% cotton rag base
  • Natural white base tint
  • Optical brightener free
  • Medium weight
Construction - Fibre Based

Construction

Fibre Based

Substrate - 100% Cotton<br>(acid free)

Substrate

100% Cotton
(acid free)

Paper Weight - 280 gsm

Paper Weight

280 gsm

Surface Texture - Matte, Smooth

Surface Texture

Matte, Smooth

White Tone - White

White Tone

White

Optical Brighteners? - No

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'.

  • Construction
    Fibre Based

    Described simple, 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 relatively 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. These papers

    Environmental Concerns:

    Resin coated papers are difficult or impossible to recycle because of their plastic content.

    Fibre Based papers are fully recyclable and we thus strongly recommend you use fibre based papers whenever possible.

    RC papers (left) are clearly bad for the environment...
  • Substrate
    100% 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
  • 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.

  • Coating
    Microporous

    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.

  • Paper Weight
    280 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.

  • Thickness / Caliper
    440 Micron (17 mil)

    The thickness of the paper, as supplied by the manufacturer. Also known as Caliper (as calipers are used to measure this value).

    Unit are in millimetres (e.g. 0.5mm, half a millimetre), or microns/μm = micrometre, or thousands of a millimetre. I.e. 500 microns (μm) = 0.5mm.

    (Note in many ways this a much more relevant figure than the more often quoated gsm - as it is thickness of a paper, more than weight, which determines how easily a printer feeds a paper).

  • Surface Texture
    Matte, Smooth

    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.
  • White Tone
    White

    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)
  • White Value
    96.5/-0.3/2.2 (LAB)

    Measurement of the white tone of the paper, as supplied by the manufacturer, with the measurement standard they have used (where given). It's really best used e.g. as a comparison figure against other papers, rather than an objective figure for any one paper.

    The value is often given as a percentage (with an ISO standard), or more usually as an LAB value (with a measuring standard). If you want to understand LAB, then we have information in Chapter Two of our Fundamentals of Digital learning resource.

    Important - this is an average figure and not a specific guarantee that any particular sheet you might measure will be exactly this figure.

  • Optical Brighteners?

    Does the paper contain chemicals in it to brighten its appearance?

    We're using the value/description the manufacturer supplies (see also the White Tone and White Value specs).

    In many cases, only a small amount is used to even out batches of cotton, and then only in the paper base, not the coating - in these cases, it is generally agreed such use of OBAs is essentially insignificant and will not materially impair the archival life of the paper.

    More on this here.

  • Compatible Inks
    Pigment 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?

  • Paper Type In Driver
    See this article
  • Full Specs.
    Ilford Product Page

Ask A Question

Confused about something, or just want some human to human advice?

Send us a question about this product.
We answer all enquiries, and promptly too!

You're also very welcome to ring us on 03 9329 4522 if you prefer.

Note this form is for pre-purchase enquiries, or support enquiries if you have bought this product from us. If you have bought this product from another supplier then please contact that supplier for support.




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Wiki

Hand curated articles, links and downloads to help you get the best from your Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Sprite 280gsm.

Need technical support? Use the form to above send us an enquiry or if it's urgent, call us on 03 9329 4522.

Articles

Inkjet Paper Surfaces

A summary of the different inkjet paper surface types.

Inkjet Paper Substrates

An explanation of the main types of base materials used in Inkjet Papers.

About Fibre Based and Resin Coated Papers

The difference between Fibre Based (FB) and Resin Coated (RC) papers.

Determining the Printable Side of Cotton Rags

How to determine the printable side of Inkjet paper.

How to Handle Inkjet Prints

How to handle your inkjet prints after they have been printed - including spotting, trimming, coating, packaging and storage.

Stock Profile Availability and Quality Issues

Information on the availibility of manufacturer stock profiles and quality issues.

What Should I Call My Prints?

Notes on the different names for inkjet prints and what is the best term to use.

Links

Manufacturer Product Page

Page about this product on the manufacturer's site.

Ilford ICC Profiles

Ilford's ICC profile download page

Files

Ilford Smooth Cotton Sprite 280gsm Data Sheet

 

Lifetime Support

At Image Science we support what we sell & we really mean that.

You're always welcome to email us for help - how to, technical support, troubleshooting, general tips - for the entire lifetime of the product.

With an unmatched track record for support, for more than 20 years in this industry, you can be sure we're not just a box moving store.

Also In This Range

Ilford Galerie Textured Cotton Sprite 280gsm
An affordable but still very high quality, 280gsm, 100% cotton rag paper with a softly textured surface.
▪ Sorry, this is not available. Use 'More Info' for details.
▪ This product has been discontinued. A new version will be released later in 2026
▪ N.B. Please visit the full listing for important info on some variants.
  • ConstructionFibre Based
  • Made From100% Cotton
  • Paper Weight280gsm
  • Surface TextureMatte, Textured
  • White ToneWhite
  • Acid Free?
  • Optical Brighteners?
More info