Christmas Card 2023 part 5

 A chilly day today, but I have a car, and drove up to my Studio to get a bit of work done and to store some  materials.  A few days ago I received a large box of sheets of paper, and it had been sitting in the living room ever since.  No need for it to stay there, so after taking care of some other business, I took it with me up to Ocean Grove and carried it to my space, along with a few other things I would need today.

After clearing a space on my table, I unpacked the box and brought out the package that included the hot press watercolor paper.  (hot press means smooth, as opposed to cold press, which has texture)  The sheets are large, and after doing some measuring, I figured I could get 12 card sized pieces from one sheet of the paper.  One thing I had brought in was my metal straight edge ruler, which I knew would make a good tear bar for the purpose of preparing the card papers.  I decided on a 7.5 inch square size, which is standard for these things.  

So I did all that.  One advantage of buying paper from a website and not a store is that the papers don't come with price tags/ID tags on them, so all pieces can be used to make cards.  My knowledge and experience with paper meant that I had chosen appropriate materials from the website. Although the pieces I tore down are square, there is still a proper orientation for them on the block.  Paper, like the wood it is often made from, has a grain, and that means it easily folds one way and not the other way.  (I don't know if this is because of the plant fibers used to make it, or the process by which it's made.) The cards will fold, so I have to print them the correct way to make that happen.  I put my small pieces of paper in a drawer for now, added other assorted sheets in plastic that have been on top of my table for months to those I put back in my large box, and tucked that behind some other stuff of mine, out of the way.  I can't do anything else until the ink arrives.   So I went home, bringing less stuff than I came with.