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Lascaux Blotting Paper — sheet 61 × 86 cm, 315 gsm
Lascaux Blotting Paper — sheet 61 × 86 cm, 315 gsm
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€11,86 EUR
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Lascaux blotting paper — the unbuffered one, for when the alkali is the problem
Swiss blotting board, unsized, in 61 × 86 cm sheets at 315 gsm. What sets it apart from almost every blotter on the market is what it doesn't carry: it is unbuffered, meaning it holds no alkaline reserve — the carbonate load other papers add to neutralise acidity. When you are working on something that doesn't tolerate alkali, that load stops being a virtue and becomes the problem.
What is it used for?
- Drying and flattening works on paper after washing or an aqueous bath, stacked and under weight.
- Support for washing paper, and separator between boards within the drying stack itself.
- Interleaving in folded material and in temporary storage during treatment.
- Moisture reservoir in humidification chambers and membrane packs: you dampen the blotter and the work takes up vapour without touching liquid water.
- Drying and pressing stacks in photograph conservation, and moisture absorption in textile treatment.
Why choose this blotter?
- It rules out the three additives that migrate. The manufacturer declares it unsized, free of optical brighteners and acid-free and wood-free. Those are precisely the three routes by which a blotter can transfer something to the work once wet.
- White, undyed. None of the colourant found in pink printers' blotters.
- Unbuffered — a choice, not a shortcoming. The NEDCC (Northeast Document Conservation Center) recommends unbuffered material for colour photographs, cyanotypes and albumen prints. And the AIC (American Institute for Conservation) documents that, in blotter washing with hot water, a buffered blotter may release enough calcium carbonate to damage Prussian blue.
- Long, tough fibre, with very good wet strength and a long service life, as declared by the manufacturer.
Format and storage
- Sheet 61 × 86 cm · 315 gsm · sold as single sheets, no minimum pack.
- Lascaux Colours & Restauro (Switzerland) · art. 4550.
- Wood-free cellulose, unsized. The manufacturer describes it as extremely absorbent.
- Store flat, dry and away from light. A sheet stored curled or damp arrives at the bench deformed.
- Reuse it for as long as it keeps its handle and its flatness. Within the stack, blotters are changed as they saturate: a soaked one stops absorbing and gives moisture back.
The limits, stated
- We do not promise it leaves nothing behind. We can tell you what the paper does not contain — it is listed above — but nobody declares that it sheds no fibre, neither the manufacturer nor the literature. Listing what it lacks is not the same as guaranteeing it leaves no residue.
- On delicate work it goes with a separating web. Standard practice interleaves a polyester non-woven — Hollytex, Reemay or similar — between blotter and object. A blotter can mark the work, which is why it is not laid directly against it.
- «Very good wet strength» is the manufacturer's declaration, not a guarantee. The literature records blotters that began breaking apart after a single use and ended up creasing the prints. Check the sheet before each cycle.
- It is not archival paper, and it cannot be. ISO 9706 — the paper permanence standard — requires an alkaline reserve. This paper deliberately carries none: they are incompatible axes, not a lower grade.
- For treatment, not for storage. The advantage of being unbuffered holds in damp, temporary contact. For long-term storage, ISO 18902 recommends the opposite: buffered material. If storage is what you need, this is not your paper.
- Wood-free is not 100 % cotton. Lascaux declares the former and not the latter, and we are not going to write the latter.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does «unbuffered» mean?
That it carries no alkaline reserve: the calcium carbonate load many conservation papers include to neutralise the acidity they generate over the years. Useful in storage, and a drawback when the work does not tolerate alkali. This sheet carries none.
So is it worse than a buffered blotter?
It is a different thing, not a lower grade. They are two separate references and manufacturers sell them apart precisely because they solve opposite cases. For damp treatment on alkali-sensitive material, this one; for long-term storage, a buffered one.
Can I lay it directly on the object?
On delicate work, no: a polyester web goes in between (Hollytex, Reemay or similar). A blotter can leave an impression, and texture transfers under weight. On robust paper and in routine work, using it directly is common practice.
How many times can it be reused?
For as long as it keeps its handle and flatness. There is no number: it depends on what it has absorbed and how many cycles it has seen. A sheet that has lost body, cockles or starts to fray is retired.
Is it suitable for photographs?
Its use in photograph conservation is documented, and being unbuffered works in its favour for colour photographs, cyanotypes and albumen prints. What it does not hold is photographic grade to standard, which is a specific specification with its own testing: it serves, but we do not certify it.
Can it be cut?
Yes. The 61 × 86 cm sheet cuts to whatever size suits you — squares to hold work down under weight, strips for localised absorption, or to the dimensions of your press.
Does it have a safety data sheet?
No, and it is not required to. It is an article of paper with no hazard classification; Article 31 of the REACH Regulation — the European regulation on chemical substances — only requires a safety data sheet for hazardous substances and mixtures. No pictograms, no hazard statements.
Any questions? Message us on WhatsApp, visit innovart.art or write to info@innovart.art and we will advise you.
