Digital BW, The Print

From:  Don

"The general assumption is that watercolor papers are 100% cotton, but that
is not always the case. Alpha cellulose papers can and are sold as
watercolor paper. What you want are ligin and acid free cotton papers,
however many Japanese papers are made from rice plant fibers or mulberry
wood and are highly regarded by fine art print makers and alt process
printers."

Why are we going to the fringes here? OK, yes some wood pulp papers are
marketed as extra-cheap, dime store watercolor papers, because there is in
no legal definition of "watercolor paper". I fail to see how that is
relevant to the current discussion. No one reading this list is likely to
use a wood pulp watercolor paper since the very reason for using watercolor
papers is to avoid acidic wood papers.

And, Japanese papers are NOT made from rice plant fibers; never were. That
is a common misconception because of the often applied misnomer, "rice
paper."  They are also not made from mulberry wood, but rather, strictly
from the fibers of the internal side of the bark. The wood is not used at
all. I have tested quite a few Japanese papers and surprisingly, they were
all a bit acidic.

David Kachel

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