Not Paper

Not paper is a result of parting and repressing the paper without felt. This is also called cold pressed paper. The paper is made by hanging the sheets to loft dry in spurs or by pressing the posts under a mechanical press or by calendaring the sheet with light pressure through felt covered metal rollers. The paper looks dull, unglazed and slightly grained with pits and valleys making them good for watercolors. The texture of the paper is between the rough paper and the hot pressed paper. The sheets are dimensionally stable when wet and are usually less absorbent than rough papers.

Special felt gives a handsome grain finish to the cold pressed paper that easily lends itself to the techniques of deep embossing. This surface is suitable for most type of paintings. This is the most commonly used watercolor paper and has enough texture to hold paint well, allowing for fine brushwork. They will accentuate the paint texture or grain of watercolor and airbrush technique. This paper is sure to bring style to any invitation and make one's art work truly unique.

Rough Paper

Rough paper is naturally "loft" dried by hanging in the air. It is also called coarse or antique paper. The rough surface is created naturally by allowing the paper to shrink during drying or by minimal pressing after sheet formation. It gives a scratchy, unsatisfying appearance to the sheet.

The rough paper is more pliant and is uniquely useful in binding. It is exciting to paint and to see a finished painting on a rough paper that is aesthetically alive. On the rough paper colors settle into the hollows making it ideal for expressionist, abstract and a painterly look. It is superb for adding affects to landscape and seascape paintings. Rough sheets are usually the most absorbent, and therefore produce the smoothest washes even with granulating pigments

Its primary disadvantage is that it is not dimensionally stable and it may expand more than other papers during pasting or other dampening and humidification treatments. It does not accept a fused dry ink, it will rub or flake off. Using textured paper can lead to missing images.