Today, your computer and internet connection can make anything possible. The first thing that comes to mind when we think of things like this would be making greeting cards and posters for parties and events. Thanks to the advancement in technology it is now very easy to design our own birthday cards or invitations online with just a few clicks of a button.
But there are still some people who prefer the old fashioned way of doing things, so they go down to their local print shop or card store to have them printed professionally on nice paper stock. This brings us to the question “what is the best paper for printing greeting cards?”, which will be answered in this article through investigating different papers’ suitability for use with inkjet printers.
The three most common types of paper used for printing greeting cards are:
– 110 lb. card stock
– Cover stock (80lb. cover, 100lb. cover)
– 110 lb. text (or matte) paper
For those who don’t know what the numbers stand for in these terms, here is a brief explanation: “110” is just the weight of the paper which is measured in pounds and sometimes written as “lbs.” or “gc”.
The higher the number means that it will be heavier and thicker than any lower number, so the stuff you want to print on should be at least 80 lbs. That’s why they call them card stocks because you can use them to make different kinds of cards with, and any of them can work for printing greeting cards.
The heaviest one is cover stock, which is just a fancy term for saying that it’s heavier than 110 lb. text (or matte) paper.
Text (or matte) papers are the most common type used by home printers, so we’ll focus on those first: they come in different colors with different finishes such as glossy and matte. They may look very similar to each other but there are huge differences between these two types, so it’s important to know what they are before deciding on something like this:
– The difference is in the surface texture and finish. Matte (also called uncoated or flat) paper has a rougher/harsher feel compared to glossy paper. Glossy (also called coated) is shinier, smoother and easier to write on by hand with pencils or pens.
– It can’t be used for laser printers because the ink will be absorbed into the fibers of the paper rather than laying over them like it does on photographic paper. So you need an inkjet printer that uses dyes instead of pigments to print photos if it has to be glossy. If you have a laser printer, stick with matte papers only because they are compatible with any kind of printer.
– Spray fixative is needed more often on glossy stock so keep this in mind before buying lots of paper at once if you don’t want to end up wasting money due to overspraying.
– Glossy paper is more likely to have a curl instead of being flat after printing, so if you’re printing on both sides it will not lay as flat as matte paper does.
– It can be used for offset presses but only for short runs. A sheet of glossy paper that’s 8.5″ x 11″ or smaller should be fine because the ink doesn’t have time to soak into the fibers and most people cut their stock down anyways before using it, which also reduces the amount of ink absorbency. But if you’re doing large runs then glossy is not recommended because it causes such high volumes of waste and wear-and-tear on the machine.
