Wednesday 25 June 2014

Garzapapel watercolor paper - sample testing

It was a very nice surprise to find in my post box the sample from Garzapapel only a few days after I order it from their website (www.garzapapel.com). There were two sets of 3 sheets each for the two types (300 and 180 grs) of this hand made watercolor paper, which is 100% recycled cotton with four deckle edges and a very special extra white texture. Each sheet of paper has a size of 14x20 cm, which corresponds to approximately 1/16 (app. 5x7 inches) of a normal sheet of watercolor paper (usual size of 22x30 inches). The sample sheets were carefully packed, and as soon as I open the envelope I was surprised by the extremely white paper. As I have used papers from many manufacturers before, I think this one is close in color to the Kilimanjaro paper, but I do not have anymore of it to compare it. However, I do have many other papers to compare, as you can see bellow. I compared the 300 grs (140 lb) paper, as I do not have "light" paper (180 grs = 90 lb) from other manufacturers.

Garzapapel vs Arches White CP



Garzapapel vs Arches HP


Garzapapel vs Arches CP

Garzapapel vs Fabriano

Garzapapel vs Waterford





The texture of the Garzapapel watercolor paper looks very close to that of Arches CP watercolor paper. The Garzapapel is not that hard (board-like) as the other papers, and if I didn't knew they are the same weight I would think this one is lighter.
I put the paper on a light box to check how easy would be to transfer a drawing, and it seems a bit more transparent compared to Arches and Fabriano.

Following, I will do a comparative test of how the paper react to water/paints, doing similar paintings on Arches and Fabriano at the same time.

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