Rives BFK

[coriana6jp]

Hi All,

I am down to my last dozen sheets or so of Arches Plantine so I need to look for a replacement. My local supplier nearly tripled his price on the Arches, so I visited a local paper supplier to see what they could supply.

He has access to large stock of Rives BFK at fairly good prices, but its not a paper I have ever worked with before. I will be printing mostly Kallitypes and a rare pt/pd print. He had one sheet of BFK on hand for display, so I wasn't able to compare it to Arches, but it seem like a good surface.

Any thoughts on this paper & how well will it might work for Kallitypes? I have to order a rather large minimum so any insights would be great.
As much as I would love to order and try a large variety of paper, shipping to this side of the Pacific gets expensive really fast.

Thanks.

Gary

[Whiteymorange]

BFK is a wonderful paper, but somewhat softer, I think, than the Plantine. I've used it a lot in etching and in making polygravure prints. It is a standard for etchers and other intaglio printmakers because of its wet strength and the absorbency of the surface once soaked to remove the sizing. If you want a harder paper, I might suggest Fabriano Artistico in plate finish.

[R Shaffer]

I just made a couple of Kallitypes on BFK last weekend. I presoaked it 2% Oxilic Acid for 30min. The test strips I made without the acidification were kinda grainy. The prints came out nice, although they did not clear quite as well as the plantine. So I need to work on my clearing baths. The paper is softer than the plantine, but has a lovely texture. My pd test strip was blotchy, but that was probably a bad coating on my part. I have used it for Gum prints, cyanotypes and Van Dyke Browns without any pretreatment.

[coriana6jp]

Thanks to both you for the information. I went ahead and ordered 10 sheets of the BFK and will give it a try sometime next week. I will need to find some Oxilic I think.

Thanks!

Gary

[nadsenoj]

I use Rives BFK for kallitypes and have never had to soak it in oxalic acid. While it is a bit soft, for the money you can't beat it. It also handles toning with gold and selenium quite well. For some interesting variations try the cream and tan colored stock as well.