Happy December everyone
Drishti here, So we have recently come up with a concept of focusing on a particular product every week (cardstock this week) and giving in some detailed information about the same. So for this week our product focus is CrafTangles Cardstock. Before we head to the details of the same I would love you to checkout our ongoing challenge along with some beautiful inspiration by other DT member
Lets start with the very basics of Cardstock
What is a cardstock?
Card stock, also called cover stock and pasteboard, is paper that is thicker and more durable than normal writing and printing paper, but thinner and more flexible than other forms of paperboard. Normally in crafting industry anywhere from 150 gsm and above to up to 500 gsm, all are called Cardstock and it is very important to understand what gsm cardstock you need in your projects.
What is gsm?
The term gsm stands for “Grams per square meter”. So this is the weight of paper grams per square meter no matter what is the size of the paper be it 12by12 or A4 the measurement used is weight in grams per meter so you always get the same result. Now normally lower the gsm meaning thinner the paper and higher the gsm means thicker the paper.
Now a lot of time our customers ask what is the paper I should use and below are our opinions, please note these are our opinions on gsm and it may happen with use and experience your views may differ. This is just to get you started.
Where is cardstock used?
Card stock is often used for business cards, postcards, card making, mixed media projects, watercoloring, ink blending scrapbooking, and other applications requiring more durability than regular paper gives. The surface usually is smooth; it may be textured, metallic, or glossy.
Cardmaking – For cardmaking, we suggest any cardstock from 200 to 300 gsm depending on the requirement. If you are into layer cards then you can use the base layer as 250 to 300 gsm and then use thinner cardstock on top of it as layers based on your requirement. If you are into one layer or mixed media cards then we suggest at least 270 to 300 gsm base as your cardstock as your paper should be thick enough to support the wear and tear. For die-cutting, we would suggest 200 to 250 gsm cardstock. In CrafTangles we have a huge range of cardstock in various gsm for your needs.
Mixed media – Mixed media as the name suggest is the art of layering various mixed mediums like chipboards, papers, laces, metal piece, glass etc one on top of each other to create layout or composition. So for mixed media, your base needs to be sturdy so anything above 300 gsm depending on what you are going to do on top of it. In mixed media, another popular base is chipboard which is very thick like 500 gsm and goes up to 1500 gsm and they are nothing but a lot of paper fused together to create aboard. These make a more sturdy base rather than your regular cardstock especially for a lot of techniques and mediums like in mixed media artform.
Decoupage – Decoupage is completely opposite than the above 2 when it comes to gsm of paper i.e because decoupage is the art of adding a thin layer of designer paper on top of various surfaces like wood, metal or glass to transform them and since many of these surfaces could be curved thinner the paper the better. That’s why you will see that the CrafTangles decoupage paper is made from 70 gsm paper. We also have plain CrafTangles Rice paper which is 50 gsm which are even thinner and perfect to make your own decoupage prints for your projects. There are also decoupage napkins which are very thin almost 20 to 30 gsm and very fragile once you remove plys from them because they are normally 2 or 3 plys of napkins, now what do I mean by ply is layers of napkins.
Scrapbooking – Now for scrapbooking there are many places where you use cardstock. First thing you use it as a base for your scrapbooks where you need around 250 gsm cardstock because you need your scrapbooks to be sturdy and last you long. Then you will mat patterned paper on top of it and if you ask us our personal opinion is that if you are using a 250 gsm matting paper you don’t need an extremely thick paper however a lot of our customers wanted thicker patterned papers so that they could use it directly without matting, so you know you decide what you want to use. In CrafTangles Patterned papers earlier we used to have 160 gsm patterned paper and now we are changing it to 240 gsm paper based on customer demands as and when the papers go in new printing lot. Now for the covers of your mini albums you need CrafTangles chipboard because the covers are the thing in a mini album which has the most wear and tear and it needs to be sturdy. For the mini album binding, we suggest a super cool paper called CrafTangles Non-tearable paper as the name suggests these papers can not be torn by hand, the only way to tear them is with scissor or cutting tools and hence they make excellent paper for binding your mini albums.
We also have a very informative video on cardstock by our former DT Colleen which you can check out below where she gives you more knowledge on cardstocks.
Another video by Khyati explaining indepth various cardstocks and how the nature of cardstock impacts the blending properties pf inks etc.
What are the different Cardstock available at CrafTangles?
At CrafTangles we have a variety of cardstock from coloured cardstock, to many options in basic white colours like Classic Smooth White, Dual Textured White, Iris cardstock in various gsm. We also have Black in many gsm and in different price points based on customer requirements. We also have speciality cardstock like Alcohol Ink paper, non-tearable paper, mirror cardstock, plain rice papers, cartridge papers etc.
Here are some of the inspirational projects by other DT members using Cardstocks from CrafTangles.
That was our first Friday focus where we talked about Cardstocks / Papers and what are they and depending on the art form you make how different gsm cardstock are needed in your projects. Do comment down below on what in CrafTangles would you like to see next or if you need any more information, comment below and we would love to reply to them. Hope you enjoyed today’s post do give us feedback we would love to hear your opinions, thoughts and see how we take this ahead.
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