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Linen Paper? - Wetcanvas: Online Living for Artists
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  • Linen Paper?
  • Home › Forums › Explore Media › Watercolor › The Learning Zone › Linen Paper?
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  • March 1, 2015 at 2:49 am#992760
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  • yellow_oxide
  • Does anyone know of any paper at all (watercolor or not) that’s made from linen today? I want to try it someday. Has anyone used linen paper?
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  • I’ve seen a few references to watercolor of the past that was made with linen instead of cotton, such as on Handprint’s page about paper. It’s claimed there that linen paper warps more easily and is less absorbent, and that since the 1960s artists have shifted toward preferring cotton paper.
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  • Whenever I search for “linen paper” the only results I find are papers with a linen finish, meaning they have a fine canvas like texture that mimics linen. It’s commonly used for graphic design applications, such as business cards, but is not actually made from linen as far as I know.
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  • March 1, 2015 at 3:31 am#1220824
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  • North
  • Two Rivers hand made paper is a mixture of linen and cotton rag. British company with a mill in the West Country. Have a website and the product is available from Jacksons in the UK. Very nice paper, hard surface and heavily sized and available in two sizes. An absolute treat to use!
  • Chris
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  • +1
  • March 1, 2015 at 3:39 am#1220818
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  • Mayberry
  • I have wondered about linen paper too, but I have not tried any. They sell it here: www.ruscombepaper.com/contents/en-uk/d20_Calligraphy_Pape... Check out their “Historic Watercolour Papers” too.
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  • -Cathy
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  • +1
  • March 1, 2015 at 10:22 am#1220817
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  • Claude J Greengrass
  • Two Rivers hand made paper is a mixture of linen and cotton rag. British company with a mill in the West Country. Have a website and the product is available from Jacksons in the UK. Very nice paper, hard surface and heavily sized and available in two sizes. An absolute treat to use!
  • Chris
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  • I agree with everything Chris say in his post. The only downside of Two Rivers paper is the cost.
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  • It is only on a basis of knowledge that we can become free to compose naturally. -- Bernard Dunstan
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  • March 1, 2015 at 11:57 am#1220822
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  • briantmeyer
  • subheading: There are a few papers I’ve researched which use linen:
  • St. Armand Dominion Aquarelle
  • Velké Losiny Moldau Watercolor Paper
  • Twinrocker Watercolor Paper
  • “historic” Whatman Creswick Paper 1959
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  • From what I’ve been able to find so far these are the only “watercolor papers” that have some linen content. They include linen and cotton in various percentages. If you get a pure linen sheet I think you’d have to size it yourself as it’s probably an art paper designed for other mediums.
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  • ( Rag used to just mean linen, now it means cotton as well )
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  • Brian T Meyer
  • My Site - Instagram[/url] - Facebook
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  • Useful links: Watercolor FAQs - Watercolor Handbook - Handprint - Listing of Watercolor Societies - Watercolor Guide (Pigment Listing)
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  • March 1, 2015 at 8:17 pm#1220819
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  • Cyntada
  • I didn’t know Twinrocker has linen in it. I can say it’s the nicest paper I have used, wish I could afford it more often!
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  • CK =)
  • subheading: I take great comfort in knowing that my genuine typos will probably be blamed on some device's autocorrect. :angel:
  • DIY art supplies, sketches, and more: cyntada.com / @cyntada
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  • March 1, 2015 at 11:16 pm#1220816
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  • M.L. Schaefer
  • Never tried it, but I have tried watercolor paper which mimics Linen. Not to my liking…it shows the little “lines” which mimics woven linen…unless you want that look, it would be a constant struggle to get “past” that woven look! Although I understand that linen is included as material in some of the watercolor papers named above, but it seems to be manufactured in the same manner as “regular” watercolor papers.
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  • Margarete
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  • When he, the Spirit of truth is come...he will be your Guide... Holy Bible (Old and New Testament)
  • Under the Concrete are Flowers Yet to be Born...from a Chilean Poem
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  • March 2, 2015 at 12:03 am#1220820
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  • yellow_oxide
  • A lot of really interesting papers have been mentioned here that I’ve never heard of. :)
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  • I don’t think Twinrocker has linen though, or at least their normal paper doesn’t. On Dick Blick’s page for them the description says 100% cotton, and I haven’t found anything on their website mentioning it except that they sell raw flax fibers.
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  • Historic watercolor paper from that Ruscombe link above would be especially interesting. Part of my interest in linen is that I had read it was used in the past, but I also read on Wikipedia that Thomas Gainsborough liked a paper used to print tourist guides and David Cox liked heavy wrapping paper. The watercolorists of the past that we frequently look up to used different materials than what many would consider standard or essential today. We might even look down on them as inferior materials, but those artists seemed to manage. :)
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  • March 2, 2015 at 1:11 am#1220823
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  • briantmeyer
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  • Twinrocker watercolor paper is made from 100% new cotton and/or linen fiber and is archival and acid free as well as being tub sized with gelatine. Made by hand, one sheet at a time, the same way paper was made centuries ago, it is aesthetically alive. Consequently, Twinrocker paper is a beautiful and exciting surface to paint and draw on.
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  • Brian T Meyer
  • My Site - Instagram[/url] - Facebook
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  • Useful links: Watercolor FAQs - Watercolor Handbook - Handprint - Listing of Watercolor Societies - Watercolor Guide (Pigment Listing)
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  • March 2, 2015 at 2:55 am#1220821
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  • yellow_oxide
  • I didn’t notice that on their front page. I tried looking again at their actual product pages (really not easy to navigate, so maybe I’m missing something) and I think I found out why that quote says “and/or”. Most of their watercolor papers either say “cotton” or “cotton rag.” That includes their regular white watercolor paper, such as what you’d see on Dick Blick.
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  • Exceptions under the watercolor section include the papers called-
  • Patriot, which is “Cotton Rag and Flax” (no percentages given on this or any other paper) and is kind of light brown. They call it tan-brown pale.
  • Double XX, which is “Cotton and coir” and little bit darker brown. I think coir comes from coconuts.
  • Charcoal Abaca, made from abaca which is apparently banana leaf fibers and very dark
  • Bleached Abaca, same thing, but off white
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  • Looking through their all purpose papers there’s Rotunda which is “Abaca, Flax, and Cotton Rag” and Chestnut which is “Cotton Rag, Bleached Abaca, and Flax,” plus Patriot again. There’s a few others made of other things, but that’s it for linen.
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  • So yeah, as near as I can tell their regular watercolor paper is 100% cotton. It’s only one of their specialty watercolor papers that has an unknown amount of linen along with cotton. That one may be worth trying, through I’m not sure about the color of it. Is that color just from the linen content? Is linen paper normally not white? I hadn’t considered that linen paper might not be white, but I’m still hoping that it is or can be. Oh, I just found this page showing flax fibers and they’re definitely not white.
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