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To return to an old and oft-repeated complaint about the very pronounced curl in the Harman by Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta paper, my aggravation was refreshed recently when I was low on the H by H ( which I do prefer for the paper color ) and made some prints on Epson Exhibition Fiber and also Ilford Gold Fibre Silk. Both papers came out of their boxes and lay down on the printer perfectly flat, no struggle with bending and flexing the media to get it accepted by the printer. Amazing! Unfortunately, for this particular image ( and for my taste usually), the Epson was too cool, the Ilford too warm, only the Harman was just right as to paper color.
I subsequently got a new box of the letter-size H by H GB and sure enough, it was badly curled. ( In the interim, I used the 11 X 17 and cut it down although it, too, is curled, though to a slightly lesser degree, or perhaps in proportion to its size.) Each print on the H by H takes extra time and effort - a real problem when time is short.
I mostly use matte for larger prints ( no problem with the matte papers, including the Hahnemuhle photo rags ), so I don't know there is a difference with larger sizes of gloss. I haven't tried other Hahnemuhle-brand gloss papers either.
If other paper makers can manufacture and box their gloss papers without imparting this defect to the product, why can't Hahnemuhle? I would like to understand the source of the problem- does it derive from the way the machinery operates in cutting smaller sheets from larger? Why can't Hahnemuhle fix it? Maybe get new machinery.
These complaints about the H by H Gloss Baryta are old. They have repeated over and over and Hahnemuhle has had a presence on this forum. Why hasn't the problem been long since resolved? Is it that Hahnemuhle considers the customers who buy the Harman gloss too meager a proportion of their clientele to bother satisfying?
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