Paper and Board

• Paper and Board


  All paper and board is made from wood. The thickness and finish varies to create a whole range of products
• Tracing paper


  • See through to allow you to copy through it, smooth to allow the drawing of fine lines
• Cartridge paper


  • A good quality paper with a soft surface made especially for drawing and sketching
• Grid paper


  • Printed paper for specific tasks, squared, isometric and graph paper are the most common
• Inkjet paper and card

  • Treated especially to allow it to dry quickly when inked through a printer
• Corrugated card


  • Layers of rough paper surround a zig zag layer to provide a strong, soft layer for cheap, protective packaging
• Cardboard


  • A cheap, rough thick board which can be printed on and recycled
• Bleed proof paper


  • Suitable for paint and ink to stop the colour spreading (bleeding) across the page
• Paper size


  Uses an 'A' scale A1, A2, A3 etc
• Paper weight


  Measured in grams per square metre (GSM), above 200gsm paper becomes officially known as board
• Laminated paper and board

  • Foil backed card
  • Foam board
• Foil backed card


  • Plain card laminated to foil for food packaging to reflect heat, hold in moisture and maintain taste
• Foam board


  • A sandwich of foam between two sheets of board makes a rigid sheet suitable for model making and mounting projects
• Paper and board cutting tools

  • Scissors
  • Knives (craft knives, scalpels and rotary cutters)
  • Guillotines
  • Laser cutters
• Scissors


  • Good for fine detail and speed. Decorative edge scissors can be used for an interesting finish
• Knives


  • Craft knives, scalpels and rotary cutters can be used to slice paper and board accurately
• Guillotines


  • Multiple sheets can be cut at once but only straight cuts, Perfect for trimming straight edges
• Laser cutters


  • An expensive way to cut your paper but it can repeatedly cut exactly the same CAD drawing using a thin burning laser beam. It is able to cut really fine detail and decoration
• CAD/CAM in industry


  1. A 2D shape can be printed with decoration or information before cutting

  2. A die is a knife sharp shape which when applied to a multiple layer of paper or card under pressure can cut through and score exactly the same shape repeatedly