If you've started venturing into the world of bookbinding, you've likely come across the concept of paper grain. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to it at first for two reasons: I couldn't figure it out, and I wasn't deeply immersed in bookbinding yet. Did it really matter? It actually does—sort of.
Let me explain.
When you begin bookbinding with basic printer paper from stores like Staples or any office supply shop, it's challenging to feel the grain. You really have to rely on what's indicated on the packaging. Most printer paper is long grain, and at the beginning, it doesn't really matter. After all, you're just practicing, right?
For a while, this was my mindset because I was still in the early stages. I often made mistakes, threw a little tantrum, and then tried again.
Recently, a friend who attended art school gifted me a large stack of old sketch paper they no longer needed. The original size of the sketch paper was about 36 inches by 24 inches—think of it as poster board, but intended for art. I wanted to cut it down to a more manageable size for creating sketchbooks, but first, I needed to determine the grain to ensure I could fold and bind the paper easily.
With such large sketch paper, it’s relatively simple to find the grain. You just bend it, and you can feel the difference between bending along the long side and the short side. To help myself and others understand this better, I created a video that explains short and long grain paper.
Here’s the key information:
- **Long Grain**: The alignment of the paper fibers (grain) runs parallel to the longer side of the paper.
- **Short Grain**: The alignment of the paper fibers (grain) runs parallel to the shorter side of the paper.
For example, in this 24 x 36-inch art paper, the long grain runs parallel to the 36-inch length, while the short grain runs parallel to the 24-inch length.
Why does this matter? I’ll explain in more detail in the video, but primarily, it affects the fold. When you fold parallel to the long grain, you may notice bumps and cracking. In contrast, folding along the short grain results in a smoother, easier bend.
Folding along the short grain allows for a clean crease, and the paper will hold up better over time.
Here is my video that I created to help with identifying the grain. My suggestion would be to purchase different types of paper and start bending to get a good feel of where the long and short grain are on the paper.
I am new to the Youtube Video world, so please let me know what you think.
Happy Binding!
Ayla.