Define Fine Art Paper.
I was recently asked for a print of something I had done a few years ago nothing exciting just a mountain view. I was happy to print it A2 size which is the biggest I can manage at home. Once done I gave it to the client who asked me if it was possible to get it printed A0 size on “Fine Art Paper” instead of matt photo paper, no problem so I thought. Although she wasn’t too happy to pay for the print she had ordered in the first place she reluctantly did so after all it was of no use to me.
I took it to my printer or I should say I put a memory stick through the letterbox with the request size and for fine art paper. Only to get a phone call to “define Fine Art Paper?” and I must admit I did not have a clue nor did the printer who had been at his job some 40 years and had vast experience.
Not to be outdone I called on three separate art supplies shops in my town and got four answers to what fine art paper was. In fact in one shop I left a husband and wife arguing as to whose definition was correct, his or hers. I was told a very long time ago not to get between a man and his wife when they are arguing with each other and I very much doubt that either of them even noticed I walked out anyway. So what to do about this predicament I mean I had at least ten different types of paper and even three different types of canvas I could print it on? None of them A0 of course as I don’t have a printer that can handle it anyway.
I decided to troll the internet for answers only to be more confused and in fact having a blazing argument with a fellow photographer who told me he was shocked I didn’t know what Fine Art Paper was. However; when asked to provide me with the industry standards for Fine Art Paper, he couldn’t. Nor by the way could anybody else for that matter so quite a predicament of me, I think you will agree.
In the end I rang the client who wanted it printed on the same paper she painted watercolours on, explaining that she wanted it printed on an inkjet printer so the colours would bleed into the paper just enough to “make it interesting.” Not that the printer had an A0 inkjet printer anyway, you just can’t please some people. The solution to the problem was simple in the end and happened quite by accident. I walked into a printer who I had known about for fifty years as I had walked past it twice a day walking to and back from school which I left in 1971. I asked the rather elderly looking man who came to the counter if they could print a A0 sized photograph for me using an inkjet printer and on Fine Art Paper? Only to be told “Well the paper isn’t going to be a problem or the size but we don’t have an inkjet printer that size I doubt anybody does.” Then he asked me just why I needed it to be like that?
I explained what the client had asked for and why she wanted it and liked it just so. I was shocked when he said to me “Well we can print it like that no problem at all it will take a couple of days as my grandson is away until then but leave it with us and we will do it.”
The result was perfect the client was happy I was happy it looked great and on the back was a little sticker saying “Printed on Fine Art Paper.”