Paper

For centuries, people tried to discover better surfaces on which to record their thoughts. Almost everything imaginable was tried. Wood, stone, ceramics, cloth, bark, metal, silk, bamboo, and tree leaves were all used as a writing surface at one time or another.

The word "paper" is derived from the word "papyrus," which was a plant found in Egypt along the lower Nile River.

Paper is made of pulped cellulose fibres (usually cotton, flax, or wood), whereas papyrus is made of sliced sections of the inner pithy body of the flower stem of the papyrus plant, laid in two layers at right angles, pressed together and dried.  A major drawback to papyrus was that ink would not penetrate the surface.

In the second century BC, the Greeks were using parchment made from goat or sheep- skin. The skins were wetted, stretched on a frame and repeatedly scraped. This was a labor- intensive process that did not produce many sheets of writing material, quickly.

237 BC

Coptic manuscript on vellum 10th Century AD

parchment leaf from a small codex 5th Century AD

The one overriding halacha of the dyo (sofer’s ink) is that it must be absolutely black, through and through. No other color can be mixed in, nor can it have any composite colors. Black – pure and simple.

Although there are several ink recipes, everyone today makes ink from three basic ingredients:

• Kuma = Gum Arabic, acts as a binder to keep the ink attached to the klaf
• Kankantum = Iron Sulfate (although the Mishna Berura 32:8 seems to identify this a copper sulfate; I’ve seen this in other places too)
• Mei Afatzim = Gall Nut Juice

The most curious ingredient of the lot is Gall Nut juice. “What is a gall nut?” you may ask…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_marble_gall

Some species of wasps (the Marble wasp, for example) lay their eggs in oak tree branches and twigs. When the tree identifies a possible parasite has having moved in, it quickly grows a large knot, a “gall nut,” around the foreign body to isolate it from doing more damage.

Gall nuts are important because they are rich in tannic acid The pure black tint of the ink results from the reaction between the tannic acid and iron sulfate.

There are a LOT of ink recipes out there. This is the most basic one and is from the sefer Chasdei Dovid:

• 3 g Gum Arabic
• 3 g Oak Galls
• 3 g Iron Sulfate
• 0.25 liters filtered or distilled water

Crush the galls as finely as possible.

Mix all the ingredients together into a sturdy pot.

Cook the mixture for a long time on low to medium heat until you have only a gloopy sort of residue left.

Strain out all the solid material using a fine mesh.

Pour the strained residue into a clear glass bottle and seal it tightly. Let it sit for about 6 months until it turns jet black.

If a Sofer doesn’t have 6 months to wait, the alternative is to buy ready-made ink.

http://merkazhasofrim.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_60&product_id=100

We see the real explosion of writing when the Chinese, in the second century BC, invent a paper from pounded Mulberry bark and bamboo. This produced thin sheets that could be produced quickly and that ink penetrated. Because of the latter property, ink could not be erased from this paper.

http://www.hollanders.com/papers/BrowseCategory.aspx?CategoryID=fa1ccc5d-c484-49e2-adf0-0620475ee3ba

For approximately 500 years the art of papermaking was confined to China, but in 610 it was introduced into Japan, and into Central Asia about 750.

In 793, there was a factory working in Baghdad.  Paper made its appearance in Egypt about 800 but was not manufactured there until 900, and from there the knowledge was taken to Morocco, and from Morocco to Europe by the Moors.

Early paper was at first disfavored by the Christian world as a manifestation of Moslem culture, and a 1221 decree from Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared all official documents to be written on paper invalid.

With the invention of the printing press in 1448 by Johannes Gutenberg, there was an explosion in the use of paper.

Rag Paper

The most commonly used fibre, or rag, is cotton. Because the length of fabric fibres is longer than that of wood, rag-based papers are stronger and tend to take more 'wear', such as scrubbing with a brush.

Rag-based papers are also more archival in quality; cotton, for instance, is naturally PH-neutral.

Money

People know what money feels like. People who handle money constantly, like bank tellers, cashiers and wait staff, can feel a counterfeit bill instantly if the paper is wrong.

That "feel of money" comes from at least three different things that make the paper in paper bills unique:

• Normal paper that you use on a day-to-day basis (newspaper, notebook paper, paper in books, etc.) is made from the cellulose found in trees. Paper used for money, on the other hand, is made from rag paper.

  One big advantage of using rag paper is the fact that it does not disintegrate if you accidentally run it through a washing machine.

   

• The paper used for money is thin compared to normal paper.

   

• The paper used for money is squeezed with thousands of pounds of pressure during the printing process. This makes it even thinner and gives newly made bills a special crispness.

• The average life of a banknote is two years

http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=CurrencyPaper

http://www.moneyfactorystore.gov/

All Early paper was made of rags, and rags were hard to come by.

Ironically, when the Plague killed millions of people in Europe, tons of clothing and rags became available at just about the time the printing press was invented.

Technical progress and an upsurge in papermaking continued in the 17th Century and soon led to a shortage of raw materials and to regulations governing the trade in rags.

Rene de Réaumur who, in the 1700s, watched a species of wasp we now call the paper wasp. These insects were munching on wood. Not eating it, exactly, but chewing it up, spitting the mush back out and forming nests with it.

It seemed to him that the wasps were making paper out of wood.

By the 1860's rag pulp paper was replaced with wood pulp due to the introduction of wood grinders.

Bond Paper

Bond paper is a strong, durable paper especially suitable to office machines including copiers and desktop printers.

Bond paper has a basic size of 17" x 22" and a basic weight of 13 to 24 lbs. It is characterized by erasability, good absorption, and rigidity.

Bristol board

Bristol paper is a heavyweight paper with a bulk thickness of .006" or higher. Bristol paper may be made by layering or laminating papers together to the desired thickness. The basic size is 22.5" x 28.5".

The name comes because this type of paper, originally made from rags, came from Bristol, England.

Matte papers are suitable for both pigment and dye based inks. For those printing in black and white in particular, matte surfaces give less brilliant prints than glossy, with lower maximum densities. However, visually the lack of surface reflections can make the blacks look good, and once framed under glass, the differences between prints on glossy and matte are quite hard to distinguish.

Matte papers differ greatly in their surface texture and color, from optically brightened intense cool whites through warm whites to those that might be called cream or even pale yellow. Some papers are extremely flat, while others have quite intrusive textures that can overwhelm detail in images and are only suitable for large prints depending on broad effects.

Fine Art Papers - Archival qualities

The fine art papers share two main qualities - they are expensive and have a matte surface.

Although nominally all white, some might more accurately be called pale yellow. All are acid-free, most are 100% cotton.

Dust Removal

With all fine art papers ensure that the surface is clean and dust-free immediately before printing by brushing gently with a soft 2" brush kept for this purpose, then using a blast of air. As well as removing anything loose on the paper surface that will drop off after printing to leave a white spot in the print, this also helps to prevent a build up of fine dust that can clog printer heads and mechanism.

Handling

All printing paper needs careful handling, and fine art materials even more so. Avoid touching in the printing surface, and load ways load the paper before you print, rather than relying on auto loading.

Since all fine art papers have a non-glossy surface, there are seldom if ever any problems with the 'pizza wheel' effect where the paper feed wheels on some printers can make marks on prints.

Sample packs

Many companies that sell inkjet paper provide sample packs containing a few sheets of the different papers they stock at reasonable prices, and it is worth getting these to decide which paper you prefer to use.

http://www.inkjetart.com/cart/media-papers-c-1_6.html

Transformation Card Paper

Two essential elements that make a playing card a playing card are the paper and varnish.

A. Paper is usually 2 or 3 ply playing card stock often called "black liner board". Most stock is from mills in Germany and France. It is laminated with a black graphite glue which guarantees opacity.

B. The "playing card varnish" is a custom formula; most major card makers have their own. The varnish helps determine the "slip" and feel of the cards, how they slide against each other, and protects the cards from grease and dirt. If you are making hand-made cards, you should give some consideration to finishing the cards and making them easy to handle. Card magician Kevin Gallagher says "To me, the design is secondary to how well they handle since they are going to get written on, torn up and generally abused anyway".

With hand-made cards, one can experiment finishing the cards by lightly polishing with wax, soap or fixative spray to make them slippery.

http://www.wopc.co.uk/otc/production.html

http://www.usplayingcard.com/pages/custom_cards/10.php

http://www.customplayingcards.co/faq.php

http://weevilgenius.net/2010/04/making-your-own-playing-cards/

http://koehlerpaper.com/en/papier/fine-tech/spielkartenkarton/casino-imperial.php

http://www.westcoastimaging.com/

http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/prints

http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/photo-prints