Choosing a Paper Card for Your Business

Choosing a Paper Card for Your Business

The color of your card will reflect your brand and a high-quality paper stock will help you stand out from the competition. It’s also important to consider the printing capabilities and durability of your card.

Manufacturers create cardstock from a blend of hardwood and softwood fibers with fillers. The hardwood helps to provide proper formation, and the fillers add opacity and brightness to the paper.

Textured & Embossed

When choosing a paper card for your business, consider using textured and embossed stock. These papers have a unique feel and add texture to your printed products. This can draw people’s eyes to specific information, such as your contact details. This can help your customers remember you more easily.

Textured paper looks like the linen fabrics you use in your home and feels much the same. It is often used for wedding invitations and other special events, but can be useful in many other applications. It is a sturdy type of parchment that can be printed with delicate details and designs.

Embossing is a process that uses opposite metal die plates to raise an image on your paper or card. This creates a 3D effect Paper Card that can be felt and seen, similar to the impression left by a notary stamp. When using this technique, it’s important to pick a high-quality and thick card stock. This will ensure that the raised area stands out for your clients and customers. Adding a bold color to the embossed space can also help draw attention to your information and imagery.

Vellum

Vellum paper is a clear, buttery-soft paper that allows light to pass through it evenly. It can be used in many ways including creating see-through pockets, envelopes and overlays. It also works beautifully with heat embossing and a range of other techniques such as stippling and stained-glass.

It is a popular choice for making invitations and cards, as it can add a frosted look to projects. It is delicate and should be handled carefully, but can withstand cutting, printing, writing and gluing.

If you want to create a unique, special edition book, using vellum can give the product a distinctive, high-end feel. This can be combined with gold gilding and other finishes to really make your book stand out from the crowd.

Traditionally, vellum was made from animal skins but this is now mostly replaced with plant-based alternatives. This makes it a more environmentally friendly material to work with. It is important to remember when working with vellum to wash your hands, as it can be easily smudged or blemished. Vellum can also absorb oil from your fingers, so it is a good idea to use clear glue such as Tonic Deluxe adhesive to prevent this happening.

Super Smooth

Our LCI Smooth collection takes the traditional paper card to new heights. This premium uncoated line offers a balanced bright white shade rated at 98 brightness and a natural shade that expresses its subtlety with 75 brightness. With a superior mifare desfire ev3 surface that enhances print performance and delivers brilliant, crisp colors with high definition and excellent ink holdout, this collection is one of our best value papers. It is available in a variety of standard paper, card and envelope sizes to suit your creative projects.

This range is made by the Lakes Craft in the Lake District World Heritage Site using sustainable forests and a papermill that commits to waste reduction and water management. Perfect for printing on, stamping and crafting on with a wide variety of tools and machines.

80lb +

When it comes to paper weight, the numbers can be a little confusing. For example, a piece of 80 lb text paper can actually feel much thinner than a piece of 65 lb cover stock because they use different base ream dimensions when being weighed. Also, the TYPE of paper can influence how thick or thin it feels.

For instance, super smooth Cougar White paper is a great choice for craft projects and DIY invitations because it is on the lighter end of cardstock weights. However, it still has some substance to it when fanned or waved.

As you get into the heavier cardstock options, like 100 lb cover and above, it begins to feel more rigid and sturdy. These thicker papers are a good option for things like posters, menus and greeting cards. They are also ideal for Perfect Bound books with high page counts because the spines will not wear down as quickly.

100lb – 120lb

Understanding paper weight can be a bit tricky. Although the term “weight” can be misleading, it actually describes both density and thickness. The higher the GSM, the thicker and heavier the cardstock. The density of a piece is calculated in grams per square meter, but here in North America we use pounds to measure the thickness of a sheet of paper.

For example, a 65lb cover has a GSM of 176 while a 110lb covers has a GSM between 270 and 308. This can make a difference when you are choosing a specific project as some paper sizes require a heavier stock for durability or to fit into envelopes.

Another important consideration when choosing paper is the printing method- if you are making certificates, for instance, you’ll want a thicker paper stock to give it some elegance and make it more likely to stand up over time. That said, it should still be thin enough to fold easily and print on without a problem. The thicker cardstock will also feel sturdy in the hand.