- What it is
- Laid paper is formed against a wire that leaves fine parallel chain lines with fainter lines running across them, so the pattern is structural and the same on both faces. Felt-marked stock is pressed by a felt roller while still wet, so the marking is irregular and no two sheets match. Linen board is embossed after it is made, so the cross-hatch is pressed into the surface and is regular in both directions. Cotton is smoother than any of them but softer than all of them. Knowing which of the three you are holding tells you what the sheet will do to fine type and to a struck finish.
- What it is printed on
Laid text for letterheads and documents, linen board where texture is wanted without giving up legibility, felt-marked text where irregularity is the point, and cotton where the hand matters more than the pattern. All four are uncoated, and all four absorb ink rather than holding it on the surface.
- Laid text, 120 gsm0.17 mmChain lines formed in the sheet itself, so the pattern is on both faces and runs one way.
- Linen board, 350 gsm0.47 mmA regular cross-hatch pressed in after making — texture that does not cost legibility.
- Felt-marked text, 300 gsm0.52 mmIrregular marking made while the sheet was wet, so no two sheets carry the same surface.
- Cotton soft white, 350 gsm0.53 mmSmoother than the other three and softer than all of them; the sheet to choose for relief work.
- How it feels
- Laid has a direction: run a thumb one way and it ribs, run it the other and it is nearly smooth. Linen is regular both ways and reads as cloth at arm’s length and as paper up close. Felt is soft, open and unpredictable, and it is the bulkiest of the four for its weight. All of them are audibly crisper than a smooth sheet, which is a real part of why they are chosen.
- What it suits
- Letterheads, certificates, invitations, menus, endpapers, and work in law, private banking and the professions where texture has to arrive without noise. It does not suit large photographic images — the surface breaks the halftone and the picture reads as a pattern — and it does not suit hot foil laid across the deepest part of the weave, where the block hits the peaks and skips the valleys.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Counted from approved artwork rather than from the enquiry.
- The common mistake
- Choosing the texture from a swatch and then setting the job in fine type. Texture has a fixed depth and type does not: below about 7 pt the thin strokes break up on a deep laid or felt sheet, and reverse type closes in completely. Decide the sheet and the type size in the same conversation, and where the sheet has a direction, keep hairlines and rules running along the chain lines rather than across them.
Print idea
Textured and laid paper
Three different ways a sheet gets its surface — formed in the sheet, marked while wet, or embossed after making. The difference decides what survives being printed on it.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What textured and laid paper is
Laid paper is formed against a wire that leaves fine parallel chain lines with fainter lines running across them, so the pattern is structural and the same on both faces. Felt-marked stock is pressed by a felt roller while still wet, so the marking is irregular and no two sheets match. Linen board is embossed after it is made, so the cross-hatch is pressed into the surface and is regular in both directions. Cotton is smoother than any of them but softer than all of them. Knowing which of the three you are holding tells you what the sheet will do to fine type and to a struck finish.
Laid text for letterheads and documents, linen board where texture is wanted without giving up legibility, felt-marked text where irregularity is the point, and cotton where the hand matters more than the pattern. All four are uncoated, and all four absorb ink rather than holding it on the surface.
- The printed face, drawn in this stock’s own shade and its own surface structure.
- The cut edge, drawn at the estate scale of 1 mm = 22 px.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Format
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Blind emboss and debossStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Letterpress cardStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Kraft and uncoated textureStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- BrochuresThe specification, and how it is quoted
- InvitationsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- CertificatesThe specification, and how it is quoted
- StationeryThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.