Lets Talk Paper and Printing

Since I am known as the paper expert at work, I get asked all the time at my art store job, how is it that there are two papers that have the same weight but have different thicknesses.

First. Paper weight is determined by weighting 500 sheets of paper. A ream of paper is 500 sheets of paper. If a ream of paper weight 60lbs then that sheet of paper is known as 60lb paper.

Second. When the paper is weighed, it is weighed in its original parent sheet size. The paper may then be cut down into smaller sizes and sold in reams. This is why a ream of 8 1/2" by 11" copy paper does not weight 32lbs.

Third. Different papers have different parent sheet sizes. This is why two papers that have the same weight have different thicknesses. Two different reams are being weighed but the paper sizes are not the same size.

• Bond / Writing weight is 17" by 22"
• Book / Text weight is 25" by 38"
• Cover weight is 20" by 26" sometimes you see it as 26" by 40"
• Bristol 22.5" by 28.5" (while Bristol may have a weight to it, it is typically measured in ply. 1 ply, 2 ply, 3 ply, 4ply, etc.)
• Index 25.5" by 30.5"
• Newsprint is about 24" by 36"
• Art paper is normally 22" by 30". Some times you see it 30" by 44" this includes print making and watercolor paper by Rives, Arches, Magnani, Fabiano, Rising.

Another question I get asked a lot is what is the difference or the use for the different papers?

I usually answer this by what the paper's intended purpose is.

• Bond / writing paper is your typical printer paper. It is good for printing on with your home printer or writing on.
• Text / Book is what is commonly used by offset printers for the pages of a book, magazine, catalogs or etc. It is heaver, more opaque than bond paper. There is often a cover weight paper that matches.
• Cover is commonly used for things such as business cards, brochures or anything requiring a little bit heaver or stiffer paper. Cover weight normally has a matching book / text weight.
• Index is like Bristol except that it is not as stiff or thick. and it can be used for really stiff business cards, postcards and pretty much anything Bristol is used for.
• Bristol its great for covers for paperback books, cards, etc. It is a really stiff paper that gets it strength from having multiple sheets laminated together.
• Newsprint - this one is pretty self explanatory but newspapers.

Since I work part time in an Art Store I always get people asking why when they use a paper in their home ink jet printer it always comes out blurry.

Ink jet printers are basically water based printers and paper like to suck up water. So it tends to bleed and cause fuzzy edges. Some papers are meant to be used with injet printers and this includes gilcee, they have special coatings applied to them or even special stuff mixed into them to prevent injet bleeding. Now I do have a solution for people wanting to print on nontraditional media. Golden the company that makes high end acrylic paints makes a special medium that you can apply to paper to allow it to print in an ink jet printer. They also make a version that you can apply to non paper products that are non-porous such as plastics or metals.