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Online Catalogue - Natural papers
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Washi Grading system
Visual Guide explanation

The unique visual guide to our natural papers has been developed to show how different papers perform with different media.

Many paper suppliers will simply recommend a particular paper usage, but we believe this limits creativity by giving an inaccurate impression of a limited range of uses to which these papers can be put. On the contrary, one of the many beauties of Japanese paper is its versatility, so rather than vaguely classifying them by use, we prefer to show how a paper performs in different situations so it can be chosen for its specific performance characteristics.

To this end, we applied a series of media to a sample piece of each paper, typically an 8.5 x 11" unless the full sheet is smaller. Each medium was consistently applied in the same order and location to make comparison between sheets easy. These media were chosen to demonstrate a range of paper qualities, including:

  • surface texture - if a visible grain or texture shows up with the use of dry or wet media
  • absorbency - how much each paper absorbs wet media or not (i.e. if the paper bleeds)
  • shrinkage - how apt a paper is to wrinkle when a limited section is wet (please note dampening a full sheet can produce a different result)
  • colour appearance - how colour appears on the paper

Next each sheet was scanned with a black-and-white template behind it. This template consists of two parts:

  • a black-and-white graduated region, to show the appearance of each paper over both a light and dark background.
  • a region with text in two sizes, to demonstrate the translucence of different papers down to small line detail.

Finally each sheet was digitally labelled with identifying information (name and code) and the media used. The media includes the brand names where applicable.

A minority of papers not designed for use with media were simply scanned with the black-and-white template to show translucence, with no media applied.

Click on image to view a larger version.

Visual Guide to the Japanese Paper Place Natural Papers

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