Ilford Galerie Raster Silk 290gsm
A resin coated paper with a satin finish and a structured raster surface to prevent duplication.
Description
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
(not acid free)
Paper Weight
290 gsm
Surface Texture
Semi Gloss
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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ConstructionResin Coated
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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SubstrateAlpha Cellulose
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 Weight290 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 TextureSemi Gloss
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 photo 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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