how to tell paper thickness?

[barthie]

i'm just getting started in papercrafting. i picked up a pack of pacon heavyweight tagboard. it felt sturdy, but i was wondering how i can tell what the thickness of this paper is, as it doesn't say on the package. will i find this to be too thick as i get started?

thanks!

 

[niebla de fuego]

i'm just getting started in papercrafting. i picked up a pack of pacon heavyweight tagboard. it felt sturdy, but i was wondering how i can tell what the thickness of this paper is, as it doesn't say on the package. will i find this to be too thick as i get started?

thanks!

It's bad that the companies don't put such basic characteristics of the paper in their packages.

But consider this: tagboard is usually already heavy and thick. If it falls among the "heavyweight" specification of the company, it probably is too heavy.

Check out this site: http://www.inkjetkits.com/weight.html and look at the "Equivalent Weight Table / Caliper" table.

You can tell that the first (upper) third of the table correspond to light papers and cardstock. Those are great for printing small parts, and for many projects.

The second (middle) third of the table correspond to medium weight cardstock. This are wonderful for bigger parts. Most of the projects are good using papers in this area.

The bottom third of the table correspond to very heavy papers. Usually not suitable for paper modelling. Papers above 200 gsm are difficult to score and fold if you are making small models.