Glossary

Absorbancy

How easily paper takes up liquids or vapours in contact with it.

Acid-Free Paper

A paper manufactured to a neutral pH. Used for fine art prints, limited edition printing, permanent records and to protect other materials where contact with acid would be harmful. Paper that is free from any acid content or other substances likely to last over time. Paper with a high acid content such as newspaper quickly becomes yellow and brittle.

Base Paper

The base stock for plain or decorated coated papers and boards. It may be uncoated or precoated on the paper machine. It is also used in connection with industrial papers before they are treated.

Bindery

Place where printed products are collated, trimmed, folded and/or bound.

Biodegradable

A substance that will decompose over time as the result of action by bacteria and other living organisms. (As opposed to non-biodegradable items such as plastic).

Blind Embossing

A design that is stamped without metallic leaf or ink, giving a bas-relief effect.

Blotting Paper

Highly absorbent paper that is sometimes watermarked

Board

The papermaker's name for cardboard, thicker and heavier than paper and may be made of several layers laminated together.

Bond Paper

Category of paper commonly used for writing, printing and photocopying. Also called business paper, communication paper, correspondence paper and writing paper. Book Paper

Category of paper suitable for newsletters and general printing needs. Book paper is divided into uncoated paper (also called offset paper), coated paper (also called art paper, enamel paper, gloss paper and slick paper), and text paper.

Brightness

The amount of light reflected by a piece of paper when measured under a specially calibrated blue light. Not necessarily related to colour or whiteness.

Bristols

Solids or laminated heavy-weight printing paper made to a thickness of .006n or higher.

Bulk

The degree of thickness of paper, often expressed in thousandths of an inch.

Calendered

Paper which has been smoothed and polished between sets of rollers. The process is usually done at the dry end of a papermaking machine.

Carbonless Copy Paper

This consists of two sheets of paper; the underside of the top sheet is coated with colourless dye in tiny gelatine capsules; the underneath sheet is coated with a reactive chemical which turns blue or black when mixed with the colourless dye; pressure from a pen or typewriter on the top sheet causes the gelatine capsules to break, the dye and chemical mix and the blue or black copy appears on the bottom sheet.

Carbon Paper

A thin tissue paper coated on one side with colouring agent or carbon black which is transferred to a sheet of paper underneath when pressure is applied.

Cartridge Paper

Tough, slightly rough surfaced paper used for a variety of purposes such as envelopes. The name comes from the original use for the paper which formed the tube section of a shotgun shell.

Cast Coated Finish

Made by depositing a clay-based coating on paper which is then run over a heated chromium plated drum. This produces a level mirror-like finish.

Chiri

A Japanese term for mulberry bark, commonly used to refer to paper with pieces of mulberry bark in its matrix.

Coating

A layer of minerals applied to one or both sides of paper or board to improve brightness, gloss and printability. The mineral most often used is china clay and hydrated aluminium silicate, but calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide are also used.

Cockle Finish

Produced by air drying paper with controlled tension. This uneven surface is available in bond papers.

Collage

More or less two-dimensional objects glued or somehow mounted to a more or less flat surface as elements in a design or picture. Collage also usually implies that space will remain between some of the objects as part of the design.

Conditioning

Allowing the temperature and moisture content of paper packed in cartons the necessary time to reach equilibrium with surrounding atmospheric conditions prior to printing.

Construction Paper

Sheathing paper, roofing, floor covering, automotive, sound proofing, industrial, pipe covering, refrigerator, and similar felts.

Cotton Fiber

Paper that contains 25% or more cellulose fibers derived from lint cotton, cotton linters and cotton or linen cloth cuttings. Sometimes flax is used in place of linen cuttings. Cotton (Rag) One of the most commonly used plant fibers in the making of western papers. Also called "rag" or "linters." Cotton is the purest form of cellulose produced in nature and it requires the least amount of processing before it can be used.

Cover Paper

Any wide variety of fairly heavy plain or embellished papers, which are converted into covers for books, catalogs, brochures, pamphlets, etc. It is a specific coated or uncoated grade made from chemical wood pulps, and/or cotton pulps. Good folding qualities, printability, and durability characterize it.

Curl

The distortion of a sheet due to differences in structure or coatings from one side to the other, or to absorption of moisture on an offset press.

Dual-purpose Bond Paper

Bond paper suitable for printing by either lithography (offset) or xerography (photocopy).

Dull finish

Flat (not glossy) finish or coated paper, slightly smoother than matte. Also called suede finish, velour finish and velvet finish.

Dummy

An exact, handmade format sample created with blank paper to show the desired size, shape, weight and general appearance of a project prior to production.

Duplex Paper

Paper with a different colour or finish on each side, usually produced by laminating two sheets of paper together.

Embossed Finish

The overall design or pattern impressed in paper when passed between metal rolls engraved with the desired pattern.

Enamel

A general term for coated papers.

English Finish

A grade of book paper with a smoother, more uniform surface than machine finish.

Envelope Paper

Any uncoated printing-writing paper used in the manufacture of envelopes. Desirable properties include smooth fold, strength at crease, good printability, and lack of tendency to curl or cockle.

Esparto grass

A grass naturally occurring in North Africa which, when pulped, produces a bulky fibre for making good quality paper; it was once a popular papermaking fibre.

Felt Finish

Uncoated, uncalendered surface texture produced by using patterned felt belts and pressure in forming paper on the paper machine.

Fine Paper

A broad term including printing, writing, and cover papers, as distinguished from wrapping papers and paper not generally used for printing purposes, which are generally referred to as coarse papers.

Finish

Surface characteristics of paper.

Filler

A material such as china clay or calcium carbonate which is added to make paper smoother and increase opacity.

Fourdrinier machine

A papermaking machine that forms the paper in a continuous sheet; it was named after the Fourdrinier brothers who financed the first operational machine at the Frogmore Mill, Hertfordshire, in 1803.

Free Sheet

Paper that contains little or no mechanical wood pulp (groundwood).

Gloss Finish

Paper with a coating that reflects light well, as compared to dull- or matte-coated paper. Also called art paper, enamel paper and slick paper.

Grade

General term used to distinguish between or among printing papers, but whose specific meaning depends on context. Grade can refer to the category, class, rating, finish or brand of paper.

Hemp

An older name for abaca, manila hemp is related to the banana plant. Its leaf fiber is often used in paper making, and should not be confused with true hemp-"cannabis sativa" (the marijuana plant).

Hickeys

Hickeys are caused by solid particles that adhere to the plate or blanket and are ink receptive. Doughnut-shaped hickeys, which have a black speck in the middle and are surrounded by a white halo, can come from ink particles, greasy dirt from the press, particles of press rollers breaking down, or chips of paint from the ceiling. Occasionally, coating lumps or scale may accept ink and produce doughnut-shaped hickeys.

Ink Holdout

The degree to which a paper surface resists penetration of ink. An inked image printed on paper with a high degree of ink holdout will dry by oxidation rather than absorption.

Kozo

A long, rough fiber from the mulberry tree that produces strong, absorbent sheets of paper. It is the most common fiber used in Japanese paper making.

Kraft Paper

Paper made from a type of chemical wood pulp (bleached or unbleached) and produces a strong paper which is used for wrapping and packaging. The term comes from the German word for strong.

Laid Paper

Paper with a prominent pattern of ribbed lines in the finished sheet.

Laminate

Overlay of sheets of paper or board either with other paper or board or with other materials such as plastic or metal foil to form a product with special qualities.

Linters

The short fibers that cling to cotton seeds after the first ginning. They are useful in making paper pulp.

Machine Coated

Paper which is coated one or two sides on a paper machine.

Machine-made

Paper that is produced on a rapidly moving machine which forms, dries, sizes, and presses the sheet. This process forms an extremely uniform sheet.

Matte Finish

A dull, clay-coated paper without gloss or luster. Mullen Tester A machine for testing the bursting strength of paper.

Newsprint

The relatively low grade paper on which newspapers are printed; it is mainly produced from mechanical pulp and recycled fibres. Paper made mostly from groundwood pulp and small amounts of chemical pulp.

Opacity

Characteristic of paper that prevents printing on one side from showing through to the other. Paper with good opacity the printing or writing on one side cannot normally be seen from the other side.

Packaging Papers

These papers are used to wrap or package consumer and industrial products such as grocer's bags and sacks, shopping and merchandise bags. "Specialty" packaging papers are used for cookies, potato chips, ice cream, and similar products.

Porosity

The property of paper that allows the permeation of air, an important factor in ink penetration.

Pressure-Sensitive Paper

Material with an adhesive coating, protected by a backing sheet until used, will stick without moistening.

Print Quality

The properties of the paper that affects its appearance and the quality of reproduction.

Pulp

Fibrous material prepared from wood, cotton, grasses, etc., by chemical or mechanical processes for use in making paper or cellulose products. For example, chemical pulp, brown pulp, dissolving pulp, fluff pulp, kraft pulp, market pulp, mechanical pulp, sulfite pulp and unbleached pulp

Ream

A unit of measurement for sheets of paper; normally 500. Recycled Fiber

Cellulose fiber reclaimed from waste material and reused, sometimes with a minor portion of virgin material, to produce new paper.

Recycled Paper

Usually old newspaper or waste paper used with very little refining, often with groundwood or semi-bleached kraft. To be considered as Recycled, a paper must contain recovered materials. The amount may vary considerably, from small percentage of pre-consumer to 100% post-consumer materials, and any combination of the two. Most recycled papers will have a recovered content of at least 20%.

Reel

A continuous length of paper wound on a core.

Rice Paper

The sliced and flattened pith of a plant that grows in Formosa in Asia, rice paper is used by Chinese artists as a surface for painting on.

SBS (Solid Bleached Sulphite)

A type of heavy-weight board which is a single thickness run on a Fourdrinier paper machine. Board run on a cylinder paper machine has several thicknesses (or plys) laminated together.

Security Paper

Paper which includes identification features such as metallic strips and watermarks to assist in detecting fraud and to prevent counterfeiting.

Shi

Japanese word for "paper."

Sizing

A solution added to paper to make it less absorbent. Sizing can be added at two stages. Internal sizing, a moisture-resistant mixture in the form of rosin, glue, gelatin, starch, or modified cellulose, is added to wet pulp while it is in the beater. External or surface sizing treats the external layer of a sheet of paper after it has dried completely. Specialty

Grades of paper and/or paperboard made with specific characteristics and properties to adapt them to particular uses. Examples are specialty industrial paper, specialty extrusion coating.

Supercalender

A type of calender stack with alternating metal- and cloth-covered rollers, used to enhance the surface of coated paper.

Stressed Papers

Native of Thailand, so called because of their heavily crumpled appearance . After being stressed, they are then decorated with streams of vibrant gold metallic. Both elegant and attractive, these papers would work with 100 different projects.

TCF

Totally Chlorine Free. Paper pulp that is bleached without using chlorine in any form; thus giving an AOX level of zero. The alternative bleaching agents used might be liquid oxygen, hygrogen peroxide or sodium hydroxide.

Text Paper

A paper of fine quality and texture for printing. Text papers are manufactured in white and colors, from bleached chemical wood pulp or cotton fiber content furnishes with a decked or plain edge, and are sometimes watermarked.

They are made in a wide variety of finishes, including antique, vellum, smooth, felt-marked, and patterned surfaces-some with laid formations. Designed for advertising printing, the principal use of text papers is for booklets, brochures, fine books, announcements, annual reports, menus, folders, etc.

Template

Pattern used to draw illustrations, make page formats, or lay out press sheets. A template may be a physical object that guides a pencil, an underlay for a light table, or a computer file with present formats or outlines for the final printed piece.

Tooth

A characteristic of paper, a slightly rough finish, which permits it to take ink readily.

Uncoated paper

Paper that has not been coated with clay. Also called offset paper.

Unryu

In Japanese meaning "cloud dragon paper." Unryu is characteristic of paper containing strands of fiber that are added to the sheet to create contrast and texture. Also known as Mulberry Paper.

Urban Forest

A description of towns and cities which are the source of waste paper as one of the raw materials used for papermaking.

UV Coating

A very slick, glossy coating applied to the printed paper surface and dried on press with ultraviolet (UV) light. The slick surface of UV coating makes it eye catching, and therefore very popular for printing the covers of paperback novels.

Varnish

A coating printed on top of a printed sheet to protect it, add a finish, and/or add a tinge of color. An entire sheet may be varnished, or certain areas, like halftones, may be spot varnished to add emphasis and appeal. Vellum Finish Uncoated, toothy, "soft" finish in fine paper.

Washi

From the Japanese "wa," meaning "Japan," and "shi" meaning "paper." Washi refers to any Japanese paper, traditionally made or not.

Watermark

A deliberate design or pattern in paper made by a dandy roll as the stock passes through the wet end processes; a watermark can be seen by holding the paper up to the light.

Wood Free

Paper made wholly from chemical pulp and free from wood-based impurities, such as lignin, which are present in mechanical pulp.

Wove Paper

Paper first made as early as 1754 by forming it on a mould with a cover made from woven wire cloth, hence 'wove paper'; the paper has no watermark and an even opacity; it is a type of paper commonly used today with a smooth, even surface made using a mould with a fine wire mesh.

Xerography

The printing process used by photocopying machines. Electric charges create the image on an eloctrophotographic surface that works as a plate. This surface is cleared after each copy is made, and used over again for the next copy.