... I think this paper with its extremely high OBA content is just really susceptible and perhaps RR’s normal clientele are not a picky as me, use up the paper and ship it to clients quickly, etc. that being said, they say it is their number 1 seller so I am surprised that it hasn’t been a big enough issue for them to investigate changes to the paper.
My sense, too, is that RR's primary customer demographic does largely comprise a cost-conscious amateur printmaking community which tends to prefer bright white (high OBA content) RC media, and longevity takes a back seat...the typical rationale expressed on many forums being that amateur printmakers printing for themselves or for friends and family
can always reprint if the print fades or discolors in a few years. I don't fault RR in any way for catering to that demographic. However, I personally think this rationale is a penny-wise pound foolish proposition, but the digital age has turned the longstanding practice of printing photographs and choosing materials wisely for print longevity upside down.
That said, Drew Hendricks at RR has slowly been upping RR's print quality game, IMHO, by adding newer non RC media like RR Palo Duro Soft Gloss Rag (a Canson Platine dead ringer) and RR palo Duro Etching 315, for example, to the RR catalog; both non RC fine art media with no OBA content and favorably priced compared to the competition. If I had to bet on any third party media vendor to be the first one to introduce an RC paper with completely OBA-free coatings and declare it so, it would be RR.
cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com