Japanese paper has been made, continuously improved and the range extended for almost 1500 years. It is both the range and the quality resulting from this long history that has given Japanese paper its reputation for excellence. As a result, this refinement of technique gives the user of Japanese paper tremendous flexibility in how it is used.
Depending on your use of the paper, there are 4 qualities to consider when choosing Japanese paper:
Absorbency. How readily does the paper absorb the moisture of paints, inks or adhesive?
Translucence. To what extent can light pass through it, or a second layer be visible underneath?
Texture. How much texture is visible within the paper and how much texture is there on the surface which will affect the medium used with it?
Strength. How difficult is the paper to tear and how long does it maintain its strength when wet?
To help you through the task of choosing, we will tell you on a scale of 1 to 5 how absorbent, translucent, textural and strong each paper is, with 1 as the lowest and 5 as the highest.
Economical Machine-made Natural Papers
Name
Size
Wt
Content
Characteristics
Appearance (click on each for an 8.5x11" view on graduated black-to-white background)
