Exhibition Fibre - Mottled, Splotchy, and Speckled Prints

[TimM]

I’m having problems with K7 Selenium on Epson Exhibition Fibre (“EEF”) paper. Prints are visibly wet as they come off the printers (both 3880 and 7900). After drying, the light and mid-tones are mottled and splotchy, as if the different shades of ink are separating and pooling. In the darker tones there are white speckles and flakes that look like the ink did not adhere.

Here is a sample of EFF, showing the mottles, splotches and speckles:

This is a marked contrast to my last experience with EEF. Last year I spent a couple of wonderful days printing at Cone Editions. While there I tried K7 Selenium on their EEF (cut from large sheets and rolls), and the results were beautiful. What I’m getting now is nothing like that.

(I’m not having any problems with Cone Type 5, or various Canson papers.)

Searching for answers I found this Sept '15 post from Jon Cone:

Epson Exhibition Fibre 100% flat

I do want to jump in here and say that the EEF in the USA has changed since we made our last bulk sheet purchases in 2013 and developed QTR curves for it. When we like a sheet, we buy a LOT of paper for Cone Editions. We do this to avoid changes in our production. We have always done this practice - even since the days of the 1980s when were a photogravure studio. Paper is always the bane of our existence as printmakers. We still have 100s of sheets of 24x30 EEF that we now realize are precious…

In summary, Jon says that EEF in sheets, now being shipped in the US in black boxes (as of 2015), is different from EEF previously sold in white boxes and rolls and used by Cone Editions.

So I wonder if the paper I’m having trouble with is the “new” EEF that Jon is talking about. It’s in a black box and is being marketed in Canada (where I live) as part of the “Signature Worthy” family of papers.

I would like to test this hypothesis. Anyone have a few sheets of “old” EFF, from a white box, on which they successfully print K7 Selenium, that I can beg or buy?

[walkerblackwell]

They are different coatings.

I suggest using the new PK master (or PKHD master) that you see in your curve folders in the community edition.

I built these masters to work on a much wider variety of paper as they have much smoother TIL (total ink limit).

best,
Walker

[369Slates]

I’m having the same issue with Cone K3 color inks: small, blotchy white spots in areas of blue sky on Red River Aurora Fine Art paper. I use a cheap foam paint brush to remove paper dust, but the issue persists, at least with images having strong blue sky. I might add that this problem is new; I haven’t experienced this sort of problem before.

[TimM]

Thanks Walker. Much better with PK Master curve. Mottles and splotches in mid-tones and highlights are gone. But still have speckles and flakes in the darker tones:

Thoughts?

[walkerblackwell]

It looks like a paper batch issue to me.

-Walker

[TimM]

Seems like it. I just printed same image on two other batches of EFF. (I cut pieces from 13x19 and 17x22 sheets, each of which is a different batch.) No speckles or flakes on either.

Interestingly, the surface texture and base colour is difference on each batch.

[walkerblackwell]

yeah, the white balance oscillates . . . . . (to say the least)

best,
W

[TimM]

Methinks my efforts will better spent on another paper. Thanks.