What’s the Best Paper for Relief Printmaking?
Here are the papers I use for wood engraving and linocut printmaking
Somerset satin for when I want a nice thick paper (300 gsm). They make a white version and soft white. I prefer the soft white because it’s a nice warm cream colour.
I find this paper works well when I’m printing with a press, and I usually dampen it with a damp pack before printing.
There is also a textured version of this Somerset paper which is really beautiful but it’s harder to print on with areas of flat black and small detail.
Awagami Factory roll paper samples
Awagami Factory - thin Japanese papers that are great for printing by hand (without a press).
I found the Awagami Factory website good for buying large rolls of paper or buying in bulk, but shipping from Japan to the UK is expensive and takes a long time, so if I just want the sheets of paper I buy from Jacksons, Handprinted, or Intaglio Printmaker.
There are so many different Awagami papers that I recommend getting a sample pack, or buying one piece of each paper and testing out which ones you like best.
The one I’ve been using a lot recently is Hosho select
It’s a nice white shade without being blue/bright white. 80gsm so it’s quite thin but very strong. (You can see the outline of piece of paper I have behind it because of how thin it is)
In the past I’ve used Bunkoshi select for hand-printing wood engravings
It’s a really nice off white colour and 70gsm. I found it quite good for hand printing although it was slightly more textured than I wanted
I’m not affiliated with any of the sites I linked. I just want to make it easy to find the products :)
Example of one of my wood engravings printed on Hosho select
