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WATER- COLOUR AUSTRALIA Cold pressed paper is the middle ground

WORKSHOP paper—not too rough and not completely
smooth. It is good for most subjects and
techniques.

John Lovett

Just a Piece of Paper

John Lovett provides insight on
watercolour paper, including sizing,
texture and weight

e have all heard it said when things content from wood pulp or a mixture of sizing acts a bit like blotting paper and
Wjust aren’t going right, “It’s just a wood pulp and cotton or linen fibers. makes lifting off pigment more difficult.
piece of paper, don’t worry about it.” In this
article, we are going to look at that piece of Sizing Texture
paper and find out exactly what it is we are Sizing watercolor paper reduces its Watercolor paper falls into three basic
painting on. absorbency. Natural animal-derived gelatin textures—rough; cold pressed, sometimes
The best quality watercolor papers are sizing is preferred, but chemical sizing called “not” (medium texture); and
acid free and made from 100% cotton is also used. Sizing is added to the paper hot pressed (smooth texture). There is
fiber. These papers are usually buffered pulp during manufacturing. Once the no standard for texture, so what one
with calcium carbonate to keep the paper has been removed from the mold manufacturer calls rough may be similar to
pH level slightly alkaline. They can be and dried, external sizing is also applied another manufacturer’s cold pressed.
hand-made or mold made, but generally usually by dipping the sheet into a sizing Rough paper allows for maximum
not machine made. Lower quality and mixture. Heavily sized paper tends to resist pigment granulation, but the paper
student grade watercolor papers are usually the paint and makes large, even washes appears slightly darker than smoother
machine made and derive their cellulose difficult to achieve. Paper with too little papers due to the shadows cast by the

Most manufacturers produce these three common textures—rough, cold pressed and hot pressed—in a number of different weights.

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