Guest Post -- Büchertiger

Since Rachel wanted some guest bloggers, she apparently pretends to be on vacation for two weeks and handed her blog over to a crowd of book fetishists, and today it is me. My name is Hilke, and in the internet I'm known as buechertiger or Büchertiger which is German and means "book tiger".

One of the things that I like best about the process of making a book, is the folding and cutting or tearing of the paper. Just feeling it under my hands fills me with joy. Whether it's the slightly rough surface of a drawing paper, the silken touch of Asian papers or the feeling of folding and cutting jeans when dealing with rag paper. Every time I am preparing the signatures for a book, I think: "This is the most beautiful paper I have. Never again will I use something else." But, as you might think, this is quickly forgotten when I am touching the next "this time really the most beautiful paper".

Initially I wanted to write about what paper is, how it is made, what properties paper can have and so on. But this is such a huge topic that I had to split it over several posts that will appear on my blog verzwirnt und zugeleimt over the next weeks (always on Thursdays). Here is the most basic information for now:

Paper is made from a pulp consisting of cellulose fibre and up to 30% filling material. This filling material could for example be chalk or china clay. After drying and pressing, some papers are further treated on the surface. All steps in papermaking effect the final characteristics of the paper. Papers differ in: Thickness, weight, opacity, color, how much the ink will bleed and how well dry media (like pencil or chalk) are abrased and will stick to it, how strong it is when it is dry and when it is wet, and by many more properties. For more information on paper see for example the articles on paper and papermaking on Wikipedia.

For my blank journals I have 4 types of paper that I regularly use: Sketching paper, drawing paper, a book-printing paper, and a rag paper. On the photo to the right you see on top the sketching paper, in the middle the drawing paper and the book-printing paper at the bottom. All three of them are good as 'all-round' papers. They all carry pencil and ink well enough for the use as a journal and sketch book. The major difference is between the rag paper and the other three. But also among them are significant differences, and depending on your personal preferences you might like one over the others.

The first difference that should be apparent is the color. All three papers are unbleached, the difference in color stems from the pulp being differently composed. A little harder to see is that the sketching paper has a rougher surface than the drawing paper which is in turn rougher than the printing paper. Thus if you are sketching with a pencil, the line you are making with the same pen is darker on the sketching paper and lighter and thinner on the printing paper. So, unsurprisingly, if you like to sketch with dry media and/or write with pencils, then you will probably prefer this paper. The journal pictured on the left is bound with this sketching paper.

The drawing paper that I use is not only whiter and slightly smoother that the sketching paper, the main difference is that it is thicker and more opaque. When writing with a ballpoint pen it sinks very slightly into the paper to just the right amount to feel pleasant. It is still rough enough to take pencils really well, but due to higher opacity and whiter paper the result will look - how should I describe it? - hm, less like a sketch and more like a drawing? Into my rollup book on the right I therefore bound some sketching and some drawing paper. I imagined that someone would make sketches on the sketching paper, and then derive from some of them a drawing on the drawing paper. - Unfortunately I seem to be the only one who likes the idea and the book isn't selling so far. Anyway, the drawing paper also takes inks and felt pens slightly better than the sketching paper. I personally prefer the softer color of the sketching paper over this whiter tone, but the texture and thickness of this drawing paper is really enjoyable and makes writing and drawing pure fun. Therefore it would be hard for me if I had to finally decide which paper I like better.

The book on the left is bound with the drawing paper - I think. I must admit that I not completely sure whether it is filled with the drawing or the printing paper. The printing paper is even whiter than the drawing paper and has a smoother surface. Therefore it is nice for those who want to draw images with markers or know that they will use a lot of ink. But when writing with ballpoint pens on it, it feels rather close to the drawing paper. In the picture you can hopefully see how much 'body' this paper has: The signatures don't contain more paper than usual - but they are so thick!

On the right you see a journal with rag paper pages. Rag paper feels completely different than the wood pulp paper that we usually use. When I first had this in my hands, I could hardly believe that it is possible to write on a paper that feels so much like cotton cloth - but you can write perfectly on it. If you once used a journal filled with rag paper, you don't want to use anything else again. It is also more durable over time, doesn't tear as easily, and I think it's impossible to cut oneself with rag paper. Rag paper is simply the best writing paper you can get. But it's expensive: As far as I know it has to be handmade (though I really don't know why this should be), and the raw material is expensive, too. The rag paper that I am using is very cheap compared to others of its kind but still costs about twenty to thirty times as much than the other papers that I use. (On a site note: do you know the combat paper project? If not so, it is worth following the link to a youtube video showing American Iraq veterans turning their uniforms into paper.)

Now my time here on Rachels blog is up, and I didn't manage to also introduce you to some Asian papers that are perfect for Asian stab bindings. (Who would have thought that?!) - So I'll stop talking and just leave you with a photo of a book with a slightly yellow Thai paper.

Next Theory Thursday I'll be talking about paper grain, what it is, why it is, what it is good for. I hope to welcome you then on my blog.

Have a nice week!