09 February 2006

Paper Craft Tools

I received a lot of inquiries from people that are just starting or new to paper crafts about what particular tools and paper I use, nothing fancy here, I just bought my entire paper craft tools from walmart. Here is a list of basic tools for starting with paper craft:

  1. Craft Knife - If you want a knife that would last, I recommend the Fiskars brand, the one with the ergonomic shape, replaceable blade, and SoftGrip technology for maximum comfort and control (I use blade #11).
  2. Craft Mat - this is where you are going to do your paper cutting, I prefer the "self-healing" mats. (I use a 9"x12").
  3. Scissors - any kind of narrow tip/blade scissors would do.
  4. Glue - any type of crafting glue would do, but I prefer the ones that dry clear ( I use Elmer's white glue)
  5. Small Plastic Paint Pallete - this is optional, I just use this to hold my glue in small amounts.
  6. Ruler - any 12" would do.
  7. Printer - any type of colored/bubble jet printer or you could also get your stuff printed at your local print shop.
  8. Paper - you could use any brand of paper, as long as they are:
  • Heavy A4 (210 x 297 mm) or regular (215.9 x 279.4 mm) paper
  • 110 to 135 lbs (0.16 to 0.18mm thick) - this is also known in the U.S. as Card Stock Paper


22 comments:

  1. Cool~~~ Thanks for your information~~~

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  2. So...should I buy cardstock paper from somewhere special? Or is it just like heavier printer paper? (And printer paper won't work, right?)

    Wow. I'm so bad at this, but these things look simple enough for me to do, even. Thanks for the info, I really needed it.

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  3. You can use any brand of stock paper as long as it is not less than 110 lbs, the brand that I frequently use for my paper models here is Georgia-Pacific. It is available at any of your local Walmart or craft store.

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  4. I use the Pritt repositionable glue roller and it works great!

    http://www.prittproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=67&subid=169&plid=680

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  5. hey ron! e-mail me please when you get better. and for chokipeta requests...ganondorf and the king! (and everything else please!) (zelda fan =>)

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  6. Ah.. is there by any chance that somebody here is from Australia? Since there are no Wal-marts in AUS and I cant seem to find these tools anywhere.

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    Replies
    1. You can buy the materials at your local bookstore or arts and crafts shop. There are lots of materials there.

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  7. Wah.. I've been taken an interest in papercrafting recently but I got no clue what kind of paper I should use. Thank you so much for this.

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  8. no probs, hopefully it helps

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  9. so if i use stock paper would i be able to print it with a normal printer?

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  10. that depends on what you mean by "normal" printer. check your printer documentation, it shoul say there if you are able to print on cardstock or any other type of thick paper

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  11. hello I would like to make a castle as that but I do not find any. Where can one find some???

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  12. Just wanted to point out that I use 65lb paper from Staples and they work just fine. I find the others to be too thick.

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  13. I have been using a 70Lb drawing paper from Canson. I also have a pad of 100Lb Bristol Smooth by Strathmore that I use for drawing with pens, but haven't used it for the paperkraft.

    The 70Lb seems to work well, but wasn't smooth. Ok for some projects, but nothing you'd want for display as the color didn't print crisply. The 100Lb that I have seems so heavy, but I'll give it a try.

    Anyhow, thanks for the site. I'm glad I found it!

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  14. I'm so glad I found this website. Thanks for sharing. BTW, how do you translate the paper type you mentioned to gsm?

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  15. Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

    About the conversion, I would recommend anything in between 100 - 150 gsm.

    10-35 gsm is of tissue consistency
    35-70 gsm is lighter textweight
    70-100 gsm is medium textweight
    100-120 gsm is light cardstock
    120-150 gsm is regular cardstock
    150-200 gsm is heavy cardstock
    200+ gsm cardboard ^^

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  16. Cool! I'm so glad I found this! I'd like to try simple papercraft projects because I'm REALLY new. I was wondering what paper to use, too, since all I see in my inventory is bristol and Epson photo paper.

    I'll probably just have to buy another kind for now. Thanks for the info, so much! :D

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  17. thanks for this info :) glad to find the explanation. now time to paper crafting!

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  18. Adrian: Thanks for the info!!! I've been searching for hours on what to use to start doing papercraft..about to BUY a printer today!!!

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  19. Hoi! I use regular printer paper for most of my models and nothing bad happens except they get crushed when i give them to someone a bit careless. Other than that, they're perfect. Would using heavier paper lessen the fragility? How would it affect the printing? It'd also be less malleable, right? If you haven't guessed by now, I'm pretty skeptic. And cheap. And kinda lazy. I really dont want to get a certain type of paper for my models...

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  20. do u use matte or glossy paper? which one is better

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  21. excuse me. i'm new but i'm planing a cosplay actually. what i intend on doing is using cardboard boxes to make a large Wing Zero Custom Papercraft except i plan to mod it a little bit to make it hollow so i can wear it as an costume in a few months. i know this seems like a pretty ambitious project for a beginner but i'm sure i can do it. I want to know does anyone have anytips for me before i get started though?

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