PRINT AND PAPER
Some tricks and tips for budget at home printing, paper sourcing and other useful facts about print and paper.
PAPER
Paper type and quality varies massively and it can sometimes seem daunting when you are trying to pick what paper to use for what job.
Paper for print (by print I am referring to printers - photocopiers, litho,riso etc - not etching/screen etc.) can generally be divided into COATED and UNCOATED paper.
> Coated paper has a been treated to give it a cleaner brighter and often glossy finish. It does not absorb ink that well and therefore there is very little bleed and it can reproduce fine detail. It is suitable for digital printing with inkjet or laser printer toner. It usually feels smooth to the touch with a barley noticeable grain.
Coated paper gives a very glossy shiny "high quality" finish which is often good for photo's, digital reproductions etc. But is not always the desired result.
>Uncoated paper has a far more noticeable grain/tooth (surface) to it, it has not been treated and as a result is much better at absorbing ink. This results in a much less glossy matte finish, which is often better if you are reproducing drawings/paintings or want your images to have a grainier more "printed" look.
Another less obvious quality of paper to consider (mainly when printing or making zines/books) is the direction of the grain. Paper is either LONG GRAIN or SHORT GRAIN
>In long grain paper the grain runs parallel to the long edge of the paper
>In short grain paper the grain runs parallel to the short edge
In toothier (rougher) paper stock you can usually see the grain's direction, but if not you can tell by tearing the paper. It will tear very easily and cleanly in one direction, and badly in the other. Whichever way tears best is the direction of the grain.
The grain of the paper effects how well the paper folds and how it sits when you hold it.
>paper folds better if you fold it in the same direction as the grain. If you fold it against the grain the fibers break and the fold is not as smooth.
>In a good quality book/zine the grain will run parallel to the spine, as a result the book bends/flops smoothly and will keep its shape better if stood up.
>If the grain is at a right angle to the spine the zine/book will feel stiffer and brittle when you hold it.
>if you are going to fold against the grain scoring the paper first can help to smooth the fold.
SOURCING PAPER
It can be difficult to work out where to get paper from sometimes. A lot of paper suppliers only sell wholesale, and buying paper from art material shops often gets very expensive very quickly (as it is usually paper for drawing/painting etc. rather than for print).
In this situation it is often very tempting to give in and just order paper off of amazon, but considering that amazon are currently one of the only company's profiting off the coronovirus crisis, and their generally awful human rights record/Jeff Bezos not really needing to be any richer, maybe its better to shop somewhere else.
If you just want cheap copier paper standard stationary shops/websites usually do the job;
https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/ probably has the best range of paper for an office shop.
For better quality papers you need to go to a proper paper distributor. One of the best value London based ones is Paper back.
http://www.paperbackpaper.co.uk/
They supply a lot of independent printers all around London and will cut paper to your specifications.
GF smith is a premium paper service, very high quality but more expensive than paperback as a result. They do lots of quality colored paper for print etc.
https://www.gfsmith.com/
If you just want as cheap as possible but kind of nice grainy paper Specialist crafts is a stationers that mainly supplies schools, and sell large amounts of sugar paper at very low prices (although to get it really cheap you have to buy A2 paper)
https://www.specialistcrafts.co.uk/paper-and-board/paper/sugar-paper
AS FAR AS I AM AWARE ALL OF THESE SUPPLIERS ARE STILL
DELIVERING PAPER DURING THE LOCKDOWN.
>TOP TIP
big paper suppliers will always send out samples of paper before you buy, so if you are running on a low budget and just need a few sheets of paper to create a one off this is a good way of getting some good quality paper (but i do not endorse this and nor did i suggest it)