Khadi Papers

With my first linocut just needing tweaking I have ordered some delicate handmade paper from Khadi.

Khadi is a small company working with paper makers in India and the surrounding countries. The Indian papers are handmade from rag in the Western tradition. They come in a huge range of sizes, up to perhaps the biggest handmade paper in the world. As each size is made on a mould of that size rather than being trimmed down they all have deckle edges, which is nice.

A lot of the non-Indian papers they source are in the Eastern tradition, with mulberry, lokta and mitsumata prominent in the range. In fact some of the papers aren't just the same species of bark the Japanese use, they are made with the same methods too. Their Himalayan range is effectively a budget priced handmade Japanese style range.

I have bought a lightweight smooth rag, one of the Himalayan Washi papers and mulberry tissue. As soon as they arrived I couldn't help myself; its proofing time! No photos yet until there are finished prints but here are first impressions.

These papers are very suited to block printing with care. There is obviously a long woodcut tradition in Japan which has evolved hand in hand with the evolution of Washi. It has enough transparency to enable you to see the progress of the print as you work it. It has a lovely absorbency and is astonishingly strong for such a thin paper. The mulberry tissue is surprisingly strong (although it becomes very delicate while saturated with wet ink) and has a beautiful, uneven transparency so will take the brightness of the board it is mounted on for framing and is very easy to see through whilst working, but it is essential to have a layer of paper between the baren and the paper to protect it. The rag is very smooth and far and away the softest Western style paper I have come across this side of blotting paper. This is because it is only lightly sized with gelatin. I would be reluctant to let watercolour anywhere near it even in heavier weights, but it looks like it would be an exquisite drawing surface. That very softness and absorbency means it picks up both the ink and the texture of the block with relatively little pressure.

They all have their place but for this set of prints I choose mulberry tissue. I need a bright white that the washi can't provide. The rag picks up detail almost too crisply for this design. The tissue can be crisp too, but less so, and its transparency means you can see progress clearly enough to manipulate the amount of ink it picks up - since this print is based on dappled sunlight this is a bonus. Tomorrow I have to work out a work area thats right for me; then its time for my first ever linocut edition...