The best paper you never heard of

[Paul Verizzo]

Some years ago I bought a matte paper called "Great White," and yes, it had a shark on the packaging. It was a heavy weight dual sided matte paper, but eventually I ran out of it, and there was no more to be had.

I came across Royal Brites Matte. Essentially the same, heavy stock and generic. Over time, I found it to be amazingly well tolerant of any ink/printer profile that one could throw at it. For albums to give to folk, unparalleled. Print two or three images on a side, two sides, what's not to love?

My Canon printers in either generic Matte, or Matte N surface, it works just great.

I have no idea if the company is still in business, although they have a website. OTOH, the support email bounces.

Nothing significant is on eBay other than business card stock, but a lot of sellers on Amazon.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

I should have mentioned that it's obviously a "coated" paper but not high tech like swellable polymer or microporous. Maybe that's some of the reason it is so tolerant of different inks and profiles. The same method manufacturers get "high definition" and brochure glossy papers.

Don't dismiss this because it isn't name brand, or high tech. I'll bet there are similar, other brand, craft marketed papers out there, too.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

I know this isn't the hottest, burning topic. But..... I need to update.

Per some Amazon reviewers, there seems to have been a paper change along the line. I just used up the last of my original box of 200 and opened the new box of 100. The reviewers are correct, they are not the same papers, although the differences are subtle.

The new paper is more like card stock in weight an flexibility. Using a simple magnifying glass, the new paper cannot hold the detail of the old. Unless you are printing to extreme detail, this shouldn't matter......but that's the subjective fact.

I cannot tout this paper as some kind of wonder paper. It's still not bad, for what is it, especially if at a good price. Nevertheless, I'm going to start pursuing other matte paper double sided options.