Watercolour Paper – Manufacture and Materials
August 24, 2026
På SvenskaPaper is a thin material consisting of interwoven plant fibres.
Leaving aside earlier paper-like products, paper in the modern sense was invented in China about two thousand years ago. Early paper was made from all kinds of plant materials. The method later spread to Central Asia and the Arab world. In Arabic paper, cotton and linen were the main raw materials. During the Middle Ages, paper production began in Europe.
Treating the paper surface with some form of plant starch was practised from the beginning, whereas gelatin sizing was a method that originated in Europe. Surface sizing with gelatin prevents liquids from being absorbed into the paper immediately, making water-based painting possible.
Until Louis-Nicolas Robert patented a paper-making machine in 1799, all paper was made by hand. The new paper machine was later further developed into the Fourdrinier machine, and paper went from being an exclusive product to something considerably cheaper and more readily available. Especially after 1840, when people discovered how to make paper from wood fibres, paper became an inexpensive mass-produced product.
At approximately the same time as the Fourdrinier machine was invented, the first cylinder-mould machine was developed. It imitates the way handmade paper is produced. In English, this manufacturing method is often called “mould-made”, or more precisely, “cylinder-mould-made”.
Materials
Traditionally, high-quality watercolour paper has always been made from cotton, or from a mixture of cotton and linen. However, all inexpensive watercolour papers are made from wood fibres. The advantage of cotton is its long, strong fibres, which make the paper very durable and less likely to buckle when wet. Cotton is also naturally lignin-free.
Wood-fibre paper is not as durable, since it contains shorter and weaker fibres. It contains lignin, which causes the paper to turn yellow and eventually become brittle and fragile. Good wood-fibre paper is often described as “acid-free”. This means that the lignin, which would slowly break down the paper and cause it to turn yellow, has been has been washed away. Acid-free paper is paper with a neutral or alkaline pH.
Cotton paper is always more expensive than wood-fibre paper. The finest wood-fibre papers cost approximately half as much as a standard cotton paper. What you pay extra for is stability, durability, better handling of paint and water, and the possibility of applying several layers of paint and scrubbing the surface—something wood-fibre paper has difficulty tolerating.
| Property | Cotton | Wood-fibre |
|---|---|---|
| Price | More expensive material | Cheaper |
| Lignin | Naturally lignin-free | Contains lignin, which must be removed |
| Durability | Withstands rough handling | Breaks down more easily |
| Buckling | Buckles less | Buckles more easily |
| Longevity | Lasts for hundreds of years | We will see—it has only existed for about 180 years |
Manufacturing
Cylinder-mould-made
Traditional watercolour paper is handmade. This manufacturing method produces paper that is often slightly irregular, with properties particularly well suited to watercolour painting. Cylinder-mould-made paper refers to a mechanised manufacturing method that imitates the qualities of handmade paper. All high-quality watercolour papers, regardless of material, are cylinder-mould-made. Exceptionally fine—or at least exceptionally expensive—papers are, however, handmade.
Flat-wire-made
A mechanised manufacturing method that produces cheaper paper is the flat-wire process. The previously mentioned Fourdrinier machine produces this type of paper. It is not only inexpensive watercolour paper that is made this way. All ordinary paper—copy paper, newsprint, book paper, notepaper and similar products—is manufactured using Fourdrinier machines.
The main disadvantage of watercolour paper made using this method is that the fibres become aligned in the same direction. This causes the paper to expand more in one direction than in the other. It also makes the paper less stable.
| Property | Cylinder-mould-made | Fourdrinier-made |
|---|---|---|
| Production cost | More expensive manufacturing method | Cheaper production |
| Fibre direction | No, or only weak, fibre direction | Pronounced fibre direction |
| Tearing and folding | Difficult to tear | Easy to tear and fold in one direction, difficult in the opposite direction |
| Durability | Withstands rough handling | Requires a gentler touch |
| Expansion | Expands evenly in different directions | Expands more in one direction than the other |
| Behaviour when wet | Relatively flat when wet | Curls or develops waves when wet |
Three Requirements for Good Watercolour Paper
In my watercolour courses, I usually claim that good watercolour paper should meet three requirements:
- It should be made from a durable and resilient material, both to withstand all kinds of watercolour techniques and to last for several hundred years.
- It should be cylinder-mould-made or handmade. Personally, I find Fourdrinier-made paper difficult to paint on.
- It should be surface-sized, not merely internally sized. To achieve the perfect balance between water resistance and absorbency, a balanced sizing is required, both internally and externally. I must admit, however, that I have painted on a few unsized papers that were very good, but this is rare.
Also read the table of common watercolor papers and their different manufacturing methods.
