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A resin coated paper with a satin finish and a structured raster surface to prevent duplication.
Now, this one is quite unusual - it's a paper specifically designed to prevent reproduction (i.e scanning) of your printed works. Like the hexagon covered photo papers of yore, basically.
The surface has a tessellated, cell like quality to it - like the compound eyes on a fly. In normal viewing, the texture mostly disappears and you're left with a fairly standard semi-gloss appearance, and the usual fabulous Ilford print quality.
However - if you're worried about supplying prints to people who might then copy your work (e.g. client proofs), then this is the paper for you. When scanned, the texture of the paper will be very evident and will prevent a good, usable duplication being made.
Ilford Say:
Ilford Raster Silk has a natural base tint that gives great tonal range, and its advanced layer coating ensures that a broad colour gamut, excellent contrast and deep blacks can be achieved.
The surface of this paper is unique in it's structured raster finish, which gives protection against scanning or duplication of the original image. While smooth to the touch, it's surface has a barely perceptible micro-grain texture which shows up in the scanning process.
At 290gsm and 265 microns it is a medium/light photo paper, with a no-glare silk finish. This paper can be recommended to artists who want to take advantage of it's unique texture and anti-plagiarism properties, and for displaying strong studio, portrait and professional images with a structured, defined edge.
Construction
Resin Coated
Substrate
Alpha Cellulose
Paper Weight
290 gsm
Surface Texture
Semi Gloss
White Tone
White
Optical Brighteners?
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'.
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.
What is the paper base made from?
Possibilities include:
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.
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!
What is the white tone of the paper?
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.
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?
Does the paper contain chemicals in it to brighten its appearance?
More on this here.
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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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You're welcome to call on us for help - how to, technical support, troubleshooting, general tips - for the entire lifetime of the product.
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