strathmoreGary Panter makes a discovery and sends a message to Strathmore®:

Strathmore Artist Papers

I have been using Strathmore 3 ply kid finish paper for 25 years and it has been a superior paper– yet, these days it has become more like blotter paper and tends to delaminate easily, which is a disaster. Collectible art has to be delivered on stable materials. I only use about 20 30×40 inch sheets a year, so I realize that my going somewhere else for excellent paper is not going to affect your business. I am a teacher in the SVA cartooning department and we need to recommend the best materials to young professional artists. I still recommend Strathmore, but please consider the drawer over industrial uses for this paper. We hope that there will be the excellent papers that we have enjoyed using over the years available to the coming generations of artists who still draw with pencil, brush and nib.
 · Saturday at 12:07pm

The company’s reply:

Dear Gary,

We sincerely apologize for any quality issues you and other artists may have experienced recently with our 500 Series Bristol. We take quality very seriously and know how important it is for an artist to have paper they can trust and depend upon. We also understand your need to recommend the best materials to young professionals and the importance of a quality paper that can be used for pencil, brush and nib. It is our hope and intention to be able to supply a stable surface for these purposes for generations to come. We have been working diligently to resolve the issues. It has not been easy because there are two elements:

First, we admittedly had a bad batch of 500 Series Bristol get into the marketplace. The paper produces significant feathering and very mottled washes. This problem was isolated to a specific production run, and despite our dedicated quality assurance, some of the product was shipped to art retailers. Since then, we have disposed of the bad paper and have sent replacement paper to retailers and artists as they encounter the bad batch. However, it is difficult to locate all of the paper and some could still be in the supply chain.

Second, we are dealing with a recent and complicated ink and paper issue. In 2011 we started receiving complaints about feathering. This surprised us because we had made no significant changes to our formula or raw materials, and paper was passing ink feather tests using industry standard inks. In fact, the paper that we were manufacturing up to 2011 had the same basic chemical and material makeup since 1990 (100% cotton with synthetic sizing).

As we worked to troubleshoot, we discovered inconsistent test results. Using the same brand of inks, results would vary depending on the date inks were purchased. Because of this ink variation, we began working with a major ink supplier to identify and resolve the issues.

As a result, we made a change in our sizing formula in 2012 to match up with recent changes made to some ink formulizations. Prior to making the change, we conducted numerous paper manufacturing trials in order to maximize ink performance with all current inks. We also worked with artists to test paper performance.

We are currently shipping the new paper, have had a number of successful paper runs and have sent samples to artists who have contacted us with mottling/ink feather issues. We are encouraged because we have received very positive feedback from artists and consistent test results for ink performance. (We are still occasionally seeing variations in performance with older inks and have found that has been resolved when ink supplies are updated.)

If you or someone you know is experiencing issues with our 500 Series Bristol, please send us a personal facebook message. We would appreciate the opportunity to work through this issue with you and send sheets of the new paper for you to test.

We hope this helps explain the situation, and we also hope that we can restore and maintain your trust in Strathmore®.

Case solved!