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Have you ever had a sketchbook go bad?

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
Oct 9, 2023
3 min read

Hi friends! The other day I posted a video to YouTube where I went through all of my in-progress sketchbooks (I had 53, it was a madhouse! I will share the video at the end of this post if you are curious) and I remarked on how the sizing is starting to go bad on some of my watercolor sketchbooks. I had quite a few viewers ask me “How do you know if the sizing has gone bad on your watercolor paper?” and after typing a few long-winded answers I decided to make a video about it! Enjoy!

In this video, we will talk about paper sizing, why it is important, and how to tell if the sizing on your paper has gone bad.

What is sizing?

  • Sizing is like glue that is added to paper internally (in the pulp) and or externally as a coating over the finished sheet. A “hard-sized” paper refers to a paper with a lot of sizing and a “soft-sized” paper refers to a paper with less sizing. Sizing affects the amount of ink, paint, or water the paper will absorb. A well-sized paper will allow you to produce crisp lines with pen and paint on dry paper whereas an unsized paper will produce feathered and blurry lines. A paper towel would be an example of paper with no sizing.

  • Sometimes due to humidity and age, the paper sizing can break down and you will see feathered edges or speckles in your paint wash and the reduced ability to blend. This is very problematic when using watercolor on watercolor paper. If your paper sizing goes bad you can still use the paper for a thicker paint like gouache or acrylic or any dry media like pastel. You could gesso the paper to use with oils as well.

  • If you want to use the paper with watercolor you can resize it with watercolor sizing or cover it with watercolor ground.  

  • Parka Blogs did an excellent tutorial on resizing watercolor paper.

  • I hope this answers any questions you have about watercolor paper sizing. I don’t bother resizing my paper if the sizing goes off, I will use it for gouache or pastels because the paper will still have enough sizing in it for those materials.

And here is the video of all of my in-progress sketchbooks. I thought of Dave Ramsey’s “debt snowball” process of paying off your smallest debts first so you can feel the momentum, so I am going to see what sketchbooks are almost done and try and finish some off. Wish me luck!

I wanted to add that after I pulled a few sketchbooks to use for scrap or gelli printing I saw a video by Susanne Rose Art where she printed directly in a spiral-bound sketchbook and I thought what a great way to make and store a bunch of gelli prints. I prefer this idea to my normal piles of random prints so I am going to just print in these books and cut from them as needed for collage or cardmaking. I know it’s been a while since I have done either but I am getting the itch! As I mentioned in the video I have put my Learn to Draw with Lindsay class on sale for 40% off for anyone who wants to draw better and fill up some of their sketchbooks:

  • Use coupon code SNOWBALL if the discount doesn’t appear automatically.

  • Regular price $79, with coupon $47.40 OR 3 payments of $18 (before tax)

  • Lifetime access!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 
 
 

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