To begin: Collect a wide variety of paper samples and other paper ephemera
across a range of weights, textures and surface finishes. This builds on your
previous paper sample exercise from Part Two. Aim to collect a wide range of
unprinted papers, such as blotting paper, tracing paper, lined paper, graph
paper, rice paper and handmade papers. Look out for papers with special print
finishes – metallic, embossed, shiny and matt. Aim to collect paper that is light as
a feather and heavier, more dense, paper. Collect papers that will run through a
conventional desktop printer, or indeed the print output options you have
available to you – this may include board.
In addition, collect paper ephemera that you find interesting or that appeals to
you in some way. This may include tickets, flyers and similar printed material or
mementos or souvenirs of exhibitions, occasions and days out. Create a stack of
these papers for use in your next few exercises.
In your learning log, document some of these papers and their attributes. Use a
reflective approach and simple, descriptive words. For example, it may be that a
heavy, coarse coloured paper reminds you of primary school, or the particular
smell and shine of a paper puts you in mind of glossy magazines, or the fish and
chip shop. Document these associations, however bizarre, into your learning log
and/or ongoing paper sample book – you may revisit the words and phrases you
use here later on in this process.
New Samples!
This doorstop of a tome is my new favourite thing. After seeing this on social media I had to hunt it down and finally got my hands on it. This is 449 pages of paper loveliness in weights from 90 – 1400gsm and in an amazing range of colours, textures and finishes. It contains papers from mills all around the world including Germany and Japan which are perfect bound together to produce this monumental resource.
I also was invited onto a webinar for the launch this new sample range which was very informative and went into great detail about the origins of the papers, the manufacturing process and the ethics behind the sustainability of the production process of some of the papers. It also covered the process of making the sample book itself including how the thumb-dividers, which divide the sections, were all cut by hand.
I also ordered some samples from G F Smith to get a better idea of some of the tactile qualities of the paper.
Living in a house with young children means that we are never short of various types of crafting materials including paper along with the usual suspects.
Tissue Paper
We probably have every colour under the sun of tissue paper in the house. This particular type of paper reminds me of primary school, screwing up balls of tissue to stick to some creation or other. It also conjures up the smell of PVA glue. This could be printed on by hand as the nature of the paper makes it very delicate to mechanically printed.
Corrugated Paper
This was also in the ‘craft box’. It’s more of a corrugated paper rather than a card. It is very tactile and quite course, I think it was used as packaging for some wine glasses from New York so it reminds me of our time there. It would be possible to print on to this, but again I think it may need to be hand printed.
Dotted Paper
This is the interior of my sketchbook. I have recently switched to using it and I like the combination of the freedom and rigidity the dotted layout gives you. It isn’t the smoothest paper and is slightly transparent, which can be useful for tracing.
Lined Pad
We have several of these in the house and they are used for notes, shopping lists and general day-to-day use. The paper is quite opaque and very robust and will happily handle a biro or a marker pen. It would also easily fit through a desktop printer. It reminds me of the pads that we used to use to write the bottling-up list on at the end of the night when working in a pub. This one is my wife’s from when she worked at the Guardian, not one from a bar in Torquay!
Black(ish) paper
This paper feels cheap and nasty. It’s the type of paper that was used to mount your schoolwork on. It’s thin and rough to touch, but I’m sure would run through a printer. However, it would be tricky to print a decent image on it due to its dark colour.
Kraft Paper
We have a huge roll of this. It gets used for drawing on and as environmentally friendly wrapping paper. It reminds me of how we used to write specials in a restaurant I worked in. We had a huge roll on the wall which we would write every day with a big Sharpie marker and reminds me of that smell. This could easily be printed on, but I’m not sure how the ink would take as it has a slightly glossy finish.
Mounting board
This was what I used to mount my work for submission fro Core Concepts. It is very thick and has a shiny side and a matt side. It is too thick to go through a printer but could be hand printed or pressed.
Cromatico Digital
Cromatico Digital is the first pure white translucent paper designed specifically for all HP Indigo digital presses and dry toner technologies. Available in three weights, it is widely used by some of the world’s most respected luxury brands. Each sheet incorporates a silver strip at each end that activates the photoelectric cells when the paper is fed onto press. It can be folded, scored, embossed, foiled, varnished and die-stamped.
This feels very silky to touch and has a luxurious feel. It has a matt texture
Gmund Blocker
Gmund Lakepaper Blocker offers a new level in opacity for paper. Complete opacity has previously meant using heavy paper weights but as the name suggests, Blocker uses unique ingredients with special ‘blocking’ additions in the paper making process to create fine lightweight sheets with maximum opacity. Blocker is perfectly suited for jobs where high ink coverage and minimum show-through is required.
This is 80gsm in weight and is almost completely opaque. It has a high quality feel and is very smooth to touch. It reminds me of very high quality book pages with a matt finish.
Takeo Pachica
Takeo Pachica is one of the most technically advanced papers in the world. Brought exclusively from Japan to the UK by G . F Smith, it has a luxurious tactility. It also has a hidden special property; by debossing an area of the paper with a heated die, the impressed area becomes transparent.
This is a very special paper that feels like fabric and when it is debossed as described above it gives an amazing finish that is very unique and looks very high-end.
Ephemera
Besides all the samples I have from printers I have a large collection of menus, tickets and rugby paraphernalia. This ranges from tickets with multiple finishes on them such as varnishes and foiling to full-colour glossy programs to laminated passes. I have menus and table-talkers from various places I have worked with varying levels of finishes.
Once you start looking around you start to notice the types of paper, the different finishes and printing techniques and appreciate what has gone in to producing it.
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