Sunday 5 September 2010

Latest Amerindian



Bull Tongue - Absaroke or Crow Indian Chief 

I have no other details about this individual or the date at which the photograph was taken. The Crow were a numerous tribe of horse indians who traversed large areas of what is now the United States. www.firstpeople.us/


Moldau A3 Not 280gsm
I finally received the consignment of Moldau watercolour paper from the Czech Republic that I have been seeking since late last year. The paper has one surface which is Not like and the weight is 280gsm (130lb) rather than the normal 300gsm. There is also a 200gsm weight (90lb) and a much heavier one. The paper is composed of 60% cotton 40% linen and  hand made.

 The Velke Losiny Mill http://handmadepaper.tripod.com/13en.htm that produce it has been in business since 1492! It is expensive finally costing over £2 a sheet. I say finally because it was difficult to find out exactly what it was going to cost based on an initial price list from the mill giving prices in euros with no carriage charges, which were guessed at. This all resulted in my having to pay a supplement as there was also 20% Czech Vat to be added. They initially sent the wrong weight (200gsm) and quantity so be aware. Why did I go through this tortuous process and was it worth it?  At my last Charles Reid course in 2009 he was using this paper and spoke highly of it, although he said it was not quite as soft as Fabriano. A little later Bruce McEvoy of the Handprint site http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/paper2k.html gave it a very enthusiastic review.

As a result of my initial enquiries to the mill, which I posted about way back - e.mails replied to in Czech etc etc I virtually gave up when a little later received a communication from John Vydra, who said he had been appointed UK agent for the mill. His address is : Bohemia Company, Mr.John Vydra, 3 Medesenge Way, London, N13 6DZ e.mail Kvydra@aol.com.
I don't blame John for the sloppy way the Mill does business as he did his best so if you want some of this high grade paper then don't expect it to be as easy or clear as if ordering from Jacksons! In the USA
 it is much better as you can order the full range from Italian Art http://italianartstore.com/store/VelkeLosinyMoldau.html . A 25 pack of 280gsm A3 is $89.95 presumably plus carriage. This works out at over £2 a sheet given current exchange rates. Italian Art say it is "their best selling hand made paper"

I have only used one sheet so far so will defer judgement. It will have to be good to pay roughly twice as much as Fabriano Artistico.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Yours is becoming the Brit version of 'Handprint'. Good reporting.

Another good portrait, mixing the soft and hard well. Lots to direct the eye around the important elements.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks for those kind words Sir! I would have to go some to catch up with Handprint though.

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks for visiting and your comment. Why `Anonymous'?.