articles/Paper/lavaartpaper-page1
by Mike McNamee Published
FROM AN AD-MANS POINT OF VIEW some digital papers start with a distinct advantage. This one is no exception; a prospective buyer should just love the cache of having an image made on stuff named like this! The Lana mill, near Strasbourg, was founded in 1590 and has occupied its present site from 1686. It also supplies papers to Winsor & Newton and luxury goods manufacturers. Lana has been selling a coated paper, Concorde Rag, through Legion in the US for the past six years but the new papers mark a concerted push into the UK digital fine art market. Lana editions d'Art Digital Paper is a pH neutral, 100 per cent cotton, mould-made paper which is available in weights of 256 and 356gsm. Lana has worked closely with its UK partners to enhance the paper, reformulating the coating several times to ensure maximum image quality, particularly in printing black. Lana emphasises that its paper contains no optical brightening agents (OBAs), arguing that these can quickly discolour and produce a colour shift. Lana also makes the intriguing claim that the low fibre content of its paper means that it generates less dust than rival papers. We obtained our review materials from UK importer Alumaframe (01787 474300).
We were provided with four inkjet papers.T here are two weights, a 256gsm and a very weighty 356gsm. Both these weights comply with Fine Art Trade Guild standards. There are two surfaces, smooth and watercolour. The base paper is 100% cotton Rag, acid free, mould made with no brightening agents. The reflectivity figures are surprisingly high and the base tone colours are all a rich, warm cream. The Smooth Natural white is the deepest cream; the other three are very similar to each other.
We tested the 356 Smooth White in an Epson 7600 equipped with Photo Black inks and an Epson 2100 equipped with Matte Black ink. This is a meaty and impressive paper, over ½ a millimetre thick. It ran through both printers OK, the 7600 as a roll feed and the 2100 as a board feed from the back of the printer.
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