Exercise 4.1: Paper/ephemera

Brief

To begin: Collect a wide variety of paper samples and other paper ephemera across a range of weights, textures and surface finishes. This builds on your previous paper sample exercise from Part Two. Aim to collect a wide range of unprinted papers, such as blotting paper, tracing paper, lined paper, graph paper, rice paper and handmade papers. Look out for papers with special print finishes – metallic, embossed, shiny and matt. Aim to collect paper that is light as a feather and heavier, more dense, paper. Collect papers that will run through a conventional desktop printer, or indeed the print output options you have available to you – this may include board.
In addition, collect paper ephemera that you find interesting or that appeals to you in some way. This may include tickets, flyers and similar printed material or mementos or souvenirs of exhibitions, occasions and days out. Create a stack of these papers for use in your next few exercises.

In your learning log, document some of these papers and their attributes. Use a reflective approach and simple, descriptive words. For example, it may be that a heavy, coarse coloured paper reminds you of primary school, or the particular smell and shine of a paper puts you in mind of glossy magazines, or the fish and chip shop. Document these associations, however bizarre, into your learning log and/or ongoing paper sample book – you may revisit the words and phrases you use here later on in this process.

I’ve ordered a sample book for one of my exercises. There are lots of samples from different weights and different finishes. Now it’s one of my hobbies to look at different samples and finishes and think about the different feels that they can give to the different products.

The collection of the papers that I’ve found at home, are not all printable. However, I am now more aware of the different papers and different textures that I’m able to use for my final assignment.

It’s very interesting that we take the papers around us for granted. Unless we hold them and look at them with extra attention. The textures, weighs and finishes of the papers around us is phenomenal.