This thread is an offshoot of a previous thread discussing matte papers in general.
I emailed RR and requested a sample of their new Palo Duro Etching paper, received two sheets a couple days later. I decided with two sheets the best quantitative evaluation I could do was create profiles on my Epson 3880. I had previously downloaded the RR profile, was quite surprised after checking it in ColorThink to find it listed a black point of L*a*b* = 2.34,.37,.22, and a total gamut of 774,930. These would be very good numbers for any pk based paper, and fantastic for mk papers.
My 3880 was in Photo Black mode, so I first did a 405 patch (one sheet) profile, using i1Profiler and an i1Pro (non-uv), thinking if the paper were that good with mk black it should come out ok with pk. Wrong, the 0-0-0 patch measured L*a*b*=23.30,.47,2.03. Otherwise the profile appeared proper, smooth gamut volume and fairly congruent neutral rendering curves. The gamut volume read out as 483,902, much smaller than RR's profile.
Back to the printer, switch to mk ink, print out another target. I used Velvet Fine Art as the selected media, per the RR profile instructions, and Quality = 5. The results were better, L*a*b* = 18.24,.90,1.72, and gamut volume 497,603. However, my results were a long way from the RR profile numbers. Again, my profile checked out wrt to other parameters, and looks good doing soft-proof in Photoshop CC, although the high black level detracts.
I'm out of the paper, can't do anything else at this point. I plan to contact Red River support tomorrow and relay my findings. It's possible they sent me the wrong paper, they don't have pre-packaged sample packs yet, so it's too early to criticize. The RR profile copyright indicated Chromix, ICC version 2.2.0. I also created version 2 profiles. I have cranked out several profiles recently, all for pk papers for myself and others, with good results, so I don't think my process is flawed.
I hope there are others doing similar testing, and that they will contribute shortly.
Richard Southworth