When browsing for art and craft supplies you may come across some papers with names you have not met before. We provide a short glossary here, and will provide more information, with links, when our own notes are available. This list is alphabetical, but not fully comprehensive. I hope all the names you are likely to meet are included ~ if not ~ please drop me a line! [mail@highview.co.uk].
I have provided a price-guide, which is not reliable for those going shopping. The intent is to indicate costs relative to each other. An A4 sheet of office paper will cost around 1p ~ a similar sheet of Khadi paper may cost 50p ~ and Chiyogami around 200p. This is only a vague guide since the 'cost of an A4 sheet' is very much theoretical. ALso I may not yet have found the best supplier.
Most of these papers are made in sizes other than A4, and can usually only be purchased in those larger sizes. An exception to this is in some craft shops ~ such as our sister site BusyBusyDotShop ~ where cut-down sizes are available for some papers.
Cartridge ~
Chiyogami ~ multi-coloured screen printed paper ~ usually with small or large repeated patterns ~ occasional pictorial scenes ~ main feature is the intensity of the inks, which lack the transparency of litho print ~ based originally on the silken designs of kimonos going as far back as the 17th century.
Gampi ~ a Japanese shrub which has fibres that are very suitable for fine quality paper making.
Handmade ~
Hemp ~ a useful long-fibred plant of various species ~ sunn hemp paper is strong and durable, and probably contains more bark-type impurities than many others, and is frequently burnished to a slight polish ~ an Indian speciality ~ hemp is widely used in agriculture ~ cost around £1 per A4 sheet.
Khadi ~ paper made from cotton fibres, which have good strength and length. The fibres used are obtained from those unsuitable for yarn-making, and also from 'waste' fabric offcuts from the garment making industry. The name derives from the Indian government's creation in 1957 of a federation to encourage village industries in the Karnataka region.
Kozo ~ paper made from the mulberry bush ~ a speciality of Japanese papermakers
Japanese (wa) ~ a generic name for many types of paper (shi ~ hence wa-shi) originating or frequently made in Japan ~ see gampi ~ kozo ~ mitsumata ~ unryu ~ and see also Chiyogami ~ Katazomi.
Lokta ~ handmade paper originating from Nepal. Lokta is a strong and reputedly very long lasting paper ~ millenia, rather than decadesor centuries. The traditiona hand-making techniques start with fibres which are gathered from daphne bushes of varieties which grow in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas, at heightsabove 1600m.
Machine made ~,/p>
Mitsumata ~ A Japanese shrub. particularly suitable for making fine, thin, and strong paper.
Momigami ~ is a kozo paper that is stiffened with starch, crumpled and scrunched up and then flattened out to dry. This process retains the toughness whilst giving greater flexibility to the paper, which can adopt fabric-like qualities. If combined with a dying process a mottled effect is achieved where the die darkens in the more creased fibres.
Office ~ a generic name I use for the A4 sheet of smooth white 80gsm paper prepared an a huge industrial scale from tree fibres. Suitable fibres are mainly from those trees growing in abundance in the proximity of the paper mill. Nowadays most of these trees are farmed with a view to paper-making. It is the industry interest to replace such trees. They frequently boast that they plant several new trees for everyone felled. Many of the Asian papers are made from inner bark fibres which can be harvested without destroying the shrub, which recover and regrow in a few year's time.
Rice paper ~ after the grain has been harvested the rice straw is put to good use to make a good quality smooth sheet. This is also the name for a thin, but edible, paper used in some cooking techniques.
Tengucho ~ is an especially thin type of kozo paper.