Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag

Printed a couple of Van Dykes yesterday on Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag which came in a couple of days ago. I got rid of the cloudiness so it seems to be a paper-related issue. Perhaps acidifying the paper upfront does the trick. I might give that a try, just for experiment-sake, even though I will be stepping away from the Bamboo paper.

Steps after exposure:
1 distilled water with a pinch of citric acid – 2 minutes
2 tap water with a pinch of citric acid – 2 minutes
3 running tap water – 2 minutes
4 Fixer 1,5 minute
5 Final wash – 30-40 minutes

Density a lot heavier now, I would expose the paper less though the next time. But, more importantly, I’m not really fond of the texture of the paper itself. It’s too smooth for my taste. I really loved the Bamboo here. I bought some Fabriano Artistico paper today, fine grain, which I prefer a lot more texture-wise. Will test this paper acidified as well as non-acidified to see what difference it makes (if any at all).

I also bought a new brush: a 2″ Accente 2500 Hake brush. The cotton-ball-coating seemed to have damaged the surface of the Platinum Rag so perhaps better to get used to a brush again. Will definitely glue the hairs at the top to prevent hair-loss during coating, which seems to be a common problem with these brushes. Ow, and they’re sooo soft!

I find the texture of the Winsor & Newton watercolor a tad hefty, so right now I don’t feel like trying this paper. I might still give Rives BFK 280 a chance as well as Arches Platine. But the price of the Fabriano is really good, so if I like it, good chance I might stick with that one. And it’s available locally which is nice.