Review: Etchr 100% Cotton Watercolour Paper Block

Review sample provided by Etchr Lab

In addition to watercolour sketchbooks, Etchr Lab also sells watercolour paper blocks and the company has sent me some to test.

Disclaimer: I've also reviewed several of their sketchbooks before and they are quite good.

Etch Lab sells wood pulp, 50% cotton and 100% cotton watercolour paper blocks in various sizes. Make sure you don't buy the wrong paper. This review is for the 100% cotton watercolour paper. Since I've not tested their wood pulp and 50% cotton watercolour paper, I can't say anything about their quality.

The watercolour blocks are available in coldpress and hotpress. Each pad has 20 sheets and the paper is 350gsm 100% cotton, acid-free, vegan friendly. There's no mention of the company that actually makes the paper.

Price at the time of review is SGD 117 (USD 88) for a set of two and this includes global delivery. You can choose a set with two coldpress, two hotpress, or have one each.

Interestingly, the company also provides two years warranty that warrant their products "to be free from manufacturing defects in materials, workmanship, and failure or breakage of parts/full products that render them non-functional".

The block is glued on four sides to prevent the paper from buckling too much. The top side is not glued to the cover.

A little card with a QR code is included to give you access to free tutorials on their website.

These are some tests I've created.

Both hotpress and coldpress texture are not ideal for coloured pencil work. There's more texture on the hotpress surface that I expected. Filling colours into the tooth of the paper is difficult.

The above tests were created with 25% cotton watercolour paper from Fabriano 1264. The first test has three horizontal lines painted on a wet surface to see if the lines can blend and disappear. Second test is a colour blending test. Third test is a gradation test.

Performance of the coldpress and hotpress paper is almost identical. The horizontal line is able to blend and almost disappear and this is a good result. Colour blending is smooth as long as you use enough water. There are no issues with creating colour gradation.

The paper white is considered traditional white and colours appear vibrant on the paper.

The 100% cotton watercolour paper from Etchr Lab performs well with wet on wet techniques. With good quality watercolour paper, the water will do most of the work for you when it comes to blending colours. On lousy watercolour paper, the paint will not move much, as you can see with the Fabriano 1264 (test #1).

The 350gsm can handle lots of water and multiple layers of washes, but there will still be slight buckling which isn't too much of an issue since the paper is glued on the four sides.

The coldpress paper does not have noticeable grain paper. It terms of texture, it's more of fine grain, certainly less "sandy" compared to Arches.

Whether pen will work well will depend on what pen you use. I've tested the Uniball Signo Gelstick with roller ball and it created rough lines too easily while I prefer solid lines. The Uniball Air which is also a roller ball pen is able to draw solid lines more easily. Fountain pens should work fine depending on ink flow.

The coldpress texture has no discernible artificial looking pattern. Paint can be lifted easily as long as it's not a staining paint, e.g. Phthalo or Quinacridone.

This was painted with hotpress.

Hotpress paper is more suited for details, and the smoother surface works better for pen and ink.

Texture and granulation is less obvious compared to coldpress. If you like textures, definitely go with coldpress.

The main thing about this hotpress paper is, it seems to have slightly more texture compared to other hotpress paper that I've tested. But it may be subjective.

The paper works great with mixed media.

The 100% cotton Etchr Lab watercolour paper block is certainly worth trying. Overall, the paper quality is good and wet on wet techniques work great. I wish the coldpress has slightly more texture, and wish the hotpress is slightly smoother. I'll update this review in the future as I use the paper more.

Watercolour paper market is a tough market because there are so many brands out there that make good paper. There's Arches, Fabriano, Lanaquarelle, and even Baohong and more.

In terms of pricing, this paper is as expensive as Arches. Is it as good as Arches? That's a difficult question to answer. Paper choice is quite subjective and you really have to test the paper to get a good feel whether it's suitable for you and the type of art you create.

When compared to Fabriano Artistico, the other popular brand, Fabriano is noticeably less expensive and hence provides more value for money. I personally prefer Fabriano Artistico over Arches and it's not because of the price.

Availability

This paper is available from Etchr Lab online store.