For the past few years or so now we've been creating and printing our own posters. And the best paper that I've found for this is satin paper. And not just any satin paper. The best that I've found is made by Hewlett Packard. And what works best is the 7 mil paper.
Satin paper that's 7 mil thick dries quick. Even for dark prints. Cause there's enough paper to absorb the ink. Thinner paper takes a lot longer to dry cause not all of the ink isn't aborbed. So it has to just sit there and dry. Sometimes run and bleed through to the back of the paper.
And the 7 mil paper isn't so thick that you can't roll it up and plastic sleeve it without any problems. Like wrinkling the print for making it too tight to get the plastic over it.
So it dries quick, rolls good without sticking to itself, and is ready to ship the same day if not the next day from when it was printed. Very ideal for the high humidity climate that I reside in.
I have tried other papers from other manufacturers and different thicknesses. Like glossy paper. Yeah it puts a high gloss on the print. But the ink sits on top and takes forever, like 3 days or so, to dry enough to roll and ship. 5 mil and thinner satin paper. The ink sits on top and soaks through the paper. You roll it up and gets ink onto the back side of the print. Not very professional.
Plain paper is very good to use also. But it doesn't have that "Photo Finish" quality. So plain it is.
I've even tried thicker satin paper from Kodak. It acted just like the thin satin paper. Or it is damaged during packaging.
So for our poster prints the paper of choice is 7mil satin paper made by Hewlett Packard. It prints beautiful. Dries fast. And ships really good once rolled.
