Which paper should I use for brush lettering?
For best results use smooth paper such as Canson Marker paper (70gsm) or Rhodia blank paper (80gsm). Not sure what gsm means? click here
If you only have normal printer paper, then you can print the practice sheet and use tracing paper over it and just write on that. VERY IMPORTANT: Please don’t use printer paper as its rough and you’ll kill your pens very quickly.
*You can also use normal lined school book or notebook paper to practice on
Paper
What is paper? Material manufactured in thin sheets from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances, used for writing, drawing, or printing on, or as wrapping material.
Markers
Water based markers feature a water solution
Alcohol based markers feature an alcohol solution. Along with alcohol, alcohol markers contain dye ink. This means you're less likely to get streaks and lines in your illustrations like you would with water based markers.
Oil based markers, also known as permanent markers, feature an oil base and their pigments are much harder to remove from surfaces when compared to water-based paint pens or markers - this makes them perfect for writing on surfaces such as glass, metal, wood, etc.
Terminology
Tooth
Refers to the roughness of the paper – fine tooth, medium tooth, heavy tooth.
What is coated v.s. uncoated paper?
Coated papers have a coating on them (typically clay or a polymer, or a mixture of materials) to impart certain qualities to the paper, including weight, surface gloss, smoothness, or reduced ink absorbency, e.g. marker paper
They're “sealed” and this restricts the amount of ink that is absorbed into the paper, allowing the ink to sit on top of the paper in a crisp defined dot.
Uncoated papers do not have this coating and thus are more porous, e.g. printer paper newsprint paper.
What is hot pressed paper v.s. cold pressed paper?
In a nutshell, the terms “hot press” and “cold press” refer to the paper's surface finish or texture.
Cold pressed paper has a slightly bumpy, textured surface and is made by using unheated, or cold, cylinders.
Hot pressed paper has a smooth surface finish and is produced by using heated cylinders to press the paper during the production process.
CP stands for cold pressed, NOT means ‘not’ cold pressed, HP stands for hot pressed
Cold press paper is more absorbent than hot press. This means you have slightly less time to move the paint around the surface before the pigments fix to the paper. Hot press paper (e.g. Bristol paper) is therefore more suitable for colour blending with water based markers
Colors are less rich and slightly paler when using cold press paper. This is probably due to the way light reflects off the paper. The indentations on the bumpy surface of cold pressed paper scatter reflected light, thus producing softer diffused colors.
What does acid-free mean?
Acid causes yellowing in papers. Acid-free refers to papers without acid in the pulp when manufactured. High acidity papers degrade quickly.
Acid free paper is commonly used for fine art prints and limited edition printing, as well as permanent records where contact with paper acidity could harm the documents.
Acid-free papers are made using alkaline paper making technology. This means the pH of the pulp that is used to form the paper is above 7 (neutral). The paper is also buffered with an alkaline reserve, such as calcium carbonate, to neutralize acid compounds absorbed from the atmosphere or formed through natural aging.
pH neutral - as with acid-free papers, a paper that is pH neutral (7) will tend not to discolour with age.
What does archival mean?
Archival paper is an especially permanent, durable acid-free paper. Archival paper is meant to be used for publications of high legal, historical, or significant value.
Although there are no universal standards regarding what makes a paper archival, there are some generally accepted properties.
o Acid free
o Contain no groundwood or unbleached pulp
o Meet strict limits on metallic content
o Be free from optical brighteners which artificially make the sheet whiter.
Often, cotton rag paper is used for archival purposes, as it is not made from wood-based pulp. Thus, "archival paper" is sometimes broken down into two categories:
o Conservation-grade — acid-free, buffered paper made from wood-based pulp
o Archival-grade (also Museum-grade) — cotton rag paper made from cotton pulp.
If you are looking for the ultimate in permanence, we recommend acid free surfaces made with 100% cotton – bank notes are often made with 75% or 100% cotton rag
Environmental factors:
In addition to your choice in paper, don’t forget environmental factors. They can be just as important in ensuring the longevity of your work.
o Light, heat and humidity all have an effect on paper.
o Sunlight and ultraviolet light can cause fading and brittleness.
o Too low a humidity can cause paper brittleness, and too high a humidity increases the chance of mould.
o The lower the storage temperature of paper, the longer it lasts. The life of paper is doubled with every decrease of 5 - 6°C.
o Cycling (temperature/humidity fluctuations) weakens and breaks down paper fibres by causing fibres to expand and contract.
Brightness
Brightness measures the amount of reflectance of a specific wavelength of blue light. Brightness is measured on a scale of 0 to 100 – the higher the number, the brighter the paper. In other words, 95 bright paper reflects more light than an 85 bright paper, therefore appearing brighter.
Bright white paper will reflect light back up through the ink on the paper and make colours appear brighter as a result.
Manufacturers will often use phrases such as ‘extra bright’ or ‘bright white’ to describe the brightness of their paper.
Lightfastness
Lightfastness refers to the ability of paper or colour to resist fading or yellowing when exposed to light. It is a paper property that measures the extent to which a paper will retain its original colour, brightness, and whiteness with exposure to light.
Various chemical constituents in paper pulp reduce its lightfastness, in particular the presence of lignin, a naturally-occurring chemical found in wood that binds fibres of cellulose together, and is responsible for paper darkening and yellowing upon exposure to light. Newsprint is a good example of paper with a high lignin content.
It is the goal of many pulping systems to remove as much lignin as possible from the wood pulp before papermaking, although no paper can be completely lightfast.
Various chemical pulping procedures, and the use of bleaching agents remove nearly all lignin from wood pulp, but groundwood pulp still contains a high amount of lignin, so paper composed of some quantity of it yellows very quickly (such as newsprint).
Opacity
Refers to how solid the paper is, e.g. cardstock has a higher opacity than tracing paper
Matte paper
Matte paper has a semi-gloss finish, produces high quality prints, but lacks the vibrant effects of gloss paper.
Matte paper produces no glare and is resistant to smudging and imprints left by fingerprints.
Paper weight
The thickness of paper is indicated by its weight, measured either in grams per square metre (gsm) or pounds per ream (lb).
What that means is that the weight of a particular piece of paper or cardstock is calculated by weighing a square metre of that paper, e.g. printer paper is usually about 80gsm - a square metre of printer paper weights 80g (it does not mean that the A4 sheet of paper weights 80g)
What is paper v.s. cardstock?
Paper - anything weighing less than 135gsm is usually referred to as paper.
Cardstock - ranges from about 135 to 300 gsm and is often used for business cards, postcards, playing cards, catalogue covers, scrapbooking, and other applications requiring more durability than regular paper gives.
Board or paperboard - much thicker than paper or cardstock and is typically heavier than 220 gsm.
Paper Grain
Grain direction is very important and makes a huge difference as to how the paper will react when attempting to fold, score and bind it. Therefore, knowing the grain direction and how it will affect the layout of a project makes a big difference in the quality of the finished piece.
Folding parallel to the grain is easier and the paper is less likely to “crack” and create a rough fold.
Deckle Edge
A deckle edge refers to the rough and feathery borders found on handmade paper. This is caused by paper pulp seeping between the mould and the deckle (frame) during the paper makine process. It is often left as ornamentation in fine books and writing papers
INK ISSUES - Feathering, bleeding and ghosting?
What is Feathering?
You may have experienced ink feathering if you’ve ever used your fountain pen on low-quality paper such as newspaper or cheap copy paper.
Feathering occurs when paper has fibres that are highly absorbent, which means they more readily pull ink from your pen via capillary action.
While paper is the main culprit in feathering, it is not the only factor. The nib you use can also play a big role in ink feathering. A juicy, wet nib that lays down a lot of ink has a higher chance of feathering than a dry, fine nib. The ink also factors into feathering. Some inks are wetter than others, which causes them to feather more readily than other inks.
Oils in your skin (or hand cream) can cause feathering - to prevent this use a sheet of paper under your hand.
What Is Ink Bleeding?
Bleeding occurs when ink soaks through a piece of paper to the other side.
You can use a backing sheet
What is Ghosting?
Ghosting occurs when you can see the writing on one side of the paper from the other side. It doesn’t mean that the ink has actually bled through to the other side. It just means you can see it.
Ghosting can be an issue if you like writing on both sides of a piece of paper. Excessive ghosting can make writing hard to read, since the writing on one side of a piece of paper can interfere with the writing on the other side.
Tracing Paper
Tracing paper is paper made to have low opacity, allowing light to pass through. It was originally developed for architects and design engineers to create drawings.
The transparency of the paper is achieved by careful selection of the raw materials and the process used to create transparency.
Cellulose fibre forms the basis of the paper, usually from wood species but also from cotton fibre.
Often, paper contains other filler materials to enhance opacity and print quality.
For tracing or translucent paper, it is necessary to remove any material which obstructs the transmission of light.
Clairefontaine and Rhodia
Clairefontaine has been making paper in France since 1858, and Rhodia has been making paper (also in France) since 1932.
In 1997, Clairefontaine bought Rhodia. Their products have been long established so the brands are separate, but Clairefontaine is the parent company. The paper in the Clairefontaine notebooks and Rhodia pads is all made by Clairefontaine, but it’s not the same paper. Rhodia pads are manufactured exclusively on Machine No.6.
The Clairefontaine staplebounds are smooth, 90g paper, ideal for fountain pen use.
The paper in the Rhodia pads is 80g, and slightly less smooth, ideal for fountain pens or pencils. That’s the big secret! There’s really not much more to it than that.
The first Rhodia pad was made in 1934 in Lyon. In Lyon there is the Rhône river. People born in this region are called Rhodaniens. The name came from there.
The two spruce trees in the logo represent the two brothers
The Rhodia Notebook, originally a sideline for Rhodia, was to become its most famous product.
The orange cover dates back to the 1934. It remains unchanged to this day.
Hahnemühle
Founded back in 1584 as a paper mill in South Lower Saxony in Germany
Canson
Recommended paper types:
Bristol:
Bristol generally describes a drawing paper that is glued together under pressure to form multi-ply sheets. This provides a stiff, strong surface to work on. The term Bristol derives from the early days of European papermaking when mills would send their finest papers to Bristol, England to be pasted together.
Bristol papers generally have two types of surfaces: smooth and vellum and are each best suited to a specific set of media
Smooth surfaces are great for pen & ink, pencil, airbrush, and markers. There is little to no tooth, making these surfaces great for creating fine lines, detail drawings, or marker drawings.
Vellum surfaces are great for graphite, coloured pencil, charcoal, pastel, and crayon. The surface has peaks and valleys which grab dry media such as graphite. More even shading and deeper tones can be achieved on a vellum surface.
Canson XL Bristol – ultra white and extremely smooth, acid free.. 180gsm
o 50 sheets @ R145 = R3p/sheet
Clairefontaine Bristol – pure white, 100% cellulose free, acid free, pH neutral.. 205gsm
o 20 sheets @ R155 – R165 = R7 – R8p/sheet
Tombow Bristol – bright white, high opacity, acid free.. 250gsm
o 25 sheets @ R230 = R9p/sheet
Bleedproof Marker paper:
Marker paper is usually very thin and slightly transparent: it doesn't absorb, allowing the ink to dry at the surface. ...
Canson® XL® Marker - Semi-transparent, very white, very smooth paper for layout work. It withstands water and is coated with a barrier preventing ink penetration. Ink stays on the surface and does not go through the paper. 70gsm
o 100 sheets @ R165 = R1.65psheet
Clairfontaine Layout paper – 75gsm
o 70 sheets @ R250 = R3.60p/sheet
Rhodia paper – acid free, pH neutral, bright white.. 80gsm
o 80 sheets @ R140 = R1.40p/sheet
Hahnemuhle Hand Lettering Pad – bright white, coated.. 170gsm
o 25 sheets @ R180 = R7.20p/sheet
Black paper
Deep Black 90gsm
Pro Art Layout paper
46 or 60gsm
Cartridge paper
Cartridge papers are made from wood pulp and provide a good surface to draw on quickly and extensively, but will not sustain a huge amount of amendments.
Cartridge paper is so named because it was originally used to pack cartridge shells!
Cartridge paper is good for pencil work and also OK for or charcoal.
It has a texture or 'tooth' (varies from smooth to coarse) which is picked out by the pencil.
· 80-140 gsm