Watercolor Paper Weights Explained

The pound per ream is a reference to what a ream of 500 sheets of paper would weigh.

Watercolor paper weights explained.

When you buy watercolor paper the first thing you should consider is its weight. The 4 basic weights of watercolor paper is 90lb 140lb 300lb and 400lb. The basic premise is the bigger the number the thicker the paper. Artists don t typically purchase 300 pounds of paper at a given time.

1 measuring a ream of 500 sheets 22 x 30 in pounds lbs or 2 by measuring a single sheet in grams per square meter gsm or g m2. Paper weight in the us is stated in lbs. The three standard watercolor paper weights are 90 140 and 300 pounds. And is determined by weighing 500 sheets a ream in the basis size of a particular paper.

The heavier the paper the more it weighs and the more water it will take without buckling. One characteristic of all paper including paper meant for watercolor paintings is its weight. 190 gsm 90 lb or student grade 300 gsm 140 lb 356 gsm 260 lb and. Weight indicates the quality and usually the price of the paper.

Typical weights for watercolor paper are. Light paper is anything less than 140 lb 300 gsm and heavy is 300 400 lb 600 850 gsm. 638 gsm 300 lb. Watercolor paper is measured by how much it weighs per 500 sheets.

The standard weights of machine made paper for artists are. The manufacturer weighs a ream of 500 sheets of paper in its uncut state and gives it a number to indicate the paper s weight. Watercolor weighs at 140 pounds 300 g m 2 and is slightly heavier than other styles of paper due to its use in holding water. Watercolour paper is measured by the weight of 500 sheets of paper at imperial size 20 x 30 51 x 76 cm.

The lighter the weight the more buckling and warping you will encounter the higher the weight the thicker the papers and less as a result less warping. Which is what we will be comparing in today s study. For example the basis size or in other words the master sheet size of our watercolor papers is 22 x30. 90 pound paper is a student grade and is rather thin.