Adventures in Printmaking: Japanese Paper

 7 sheets of Japanese paper, rolled

In my first post on my cardboard print project, "Adventures in Printmaking", I explained that my next task was going to be finding papers that I liked. I was lucky enough to get to New York Central Supply when I was in NYC a couple of weeks ago. Walking into the store on 3rd Avenue was like stepping back in time: it looked just as it did the last time I was in there, over 20 years ago. Their remarkable paper department was still up the stairs, in a small room full of hundreds of paper samples from all over the world.

the papers, flat, a subtle range of color

I spent a happy hour looking through the Japanese paper, trying to find some that were like the ones I had so enjoyed printing on. The delicacy and translucence of these papers are qualities that I think are suited to my funky cardboard prints. I touched many papers, looking for a smooth surface similar to the paper I had at home. The variations in surface and texture and color were wonderful to see. I had to close my eyes to the really expensive hand made papers, but there was still plenty to choose from. 

I happened to come across an useful tidbit of technical information while looking up one of the papers online: if you make a line of water with a fine brush, you can simply pull this thin, translucent paper apart (don't look at my messy glob of water). It made tearing the paper to size a more interesting process than tearing it using a straight edge.

In order to get to know how each of these 7 papers printed, I used just one plate. You can see how the different colors of the paper, and their different surfaces, changed the blue of the ink in relation to them. I ended by liking 6 of the 7 papers; each had a quality of color or surface that I found very engaging. It's going to be hard moving forward to decide which paper to use for which project.

Gampi smooth

Here is a detail of the most textured of the papers, Gampi, which is made from the bark of the gampi bush and has quite a shiny surface. I thought I wouldn't like printing on this, that the texture would be distracting, but I liked it a lot. I believe it's machine made, but it still has a lot of character, as do all these papers. There is a conversation between the irregularity of the printed image and the surface of the paper, one that I'll enjoy listening in on as it develops.