Watercolor Paper Weight Gsm

The gsm grams per square meter tells paper consumers how dense a paper is.

Watercolor paper weight gsm.

Heavy paper can absorb more water and rarely needs stretching. Typical weights for watercolor paper are 90 pound paper is a student grade and is rather thin. Rembrandt watercolor paper is made from 25 cotton content and has a cold press surface with a medium texture. 190 gsm 90 lb.

Otherwise it is likely to warp. The thickness of watercolor paper is indicated by its weight measured either in grams per square meter gsm or pounds per ream lb. Rembrandt watercolor paper blocks hold 20 sheets of 140 lb 300 gsm paper glued on all four edges to prevent the paper from buckling while being painted on in the block. The four standard watercolor paper weights are.

The three standard watercolor paper weights are 90 140 and 300 pounds. 140 pound paper is probably the most popular choice. Paper weight is determined by two different methods. The thickness of a sheet of paper is indicated by its weight which can be measured either in grams per square meter gsm or pounds per ream lb.

638 gsm 300 lb. Paper less than 356 gsm 260 lb should be stretched before use. Heavy paper can be very expensive but is preferable for some artists because it doesn t need stretching unless you re using very heavy washes. The thicker the paper the more it weighs and the more water it will take without warping.

Heavier paper can absorb more water hence helping out in the drying process. The thickness of watercolor paper is measured by how much it weighs per 500 sheets measured either in grams per square meter gsm or pounds per ream lb. 90 pound watercolor paper will accept a fair amount of water but is best used with less water than the average watercolorist uses and cannot survive a lot of scrubbing or abrasion of the paper. The standard machine weights are 190 gsm 90 lb 300 gsm 140 lb 356 gsm 260 lb and 638 gsm 300 lb.

It buckles when wet and can t endure much scrubbing for changes. Heavier watercolor papers are much more expensive but the minimized need for stretching makes it perfect for professional use. So even though both drawing and aquarius ii are listed as the same weight in pounds 80lbs the master size sheets being weighed are not the same again the drawing paper basis size is 24 x 36 and the watercolor paper basis size is 22 x 30. Measuring paper weight in grams per square meter commonly referred to as gsm or g m 2 is literally taking the weight in grams of 1 square meter of paper.

190 gsm 90 lb or student grade 300 gsm 140 lb 356 gsm 260 lb and. They rarely need stretching and come at a weight range of 600 850 gsm. Light paper is anything less than 140 lb 300 gsm and heavy is 300 400 lb 600 850 gsm. The standard weights of machine made paper for artists are.

This is used as a baseline measurement in metrics and as a result it is still used as the standardsize when comparing the weights of different sized papers.