Crazy Heavy Paper Help

[TripleStampPress]

I have a client that wants some hang tags for her clothing line printed.

She wants them on 100% recycled white. I showed her Mr. French recycled white 140lb cover, and she said it was way too thin!

I am thinking I am going to need 140-180 double thick cover, or something in 24pt. I don't have much experience selecting or printing on these heavier weights. Don't know if there are any added coatings to be aware of that might mess with the print.

Where do you buy heavy weight paper? What brands do you like? Finish? And anything else I should know going into this.

[squeegeethree]

I use mat board when it needs to go thick and be cost effective. You can look at 2 ply vs 4 ply. I think 8 ply will be to thick. There are art papers thick as well but they get pricey. For art papers start looking at 300+ gsm.

[TripleStampPress]

I found some Mohawk 160 DTC (432 gsm). Is that actually the equivalent of 2 160lb cover sheets?

[ittybittypress]

Astrolite makes a 200lb uncoated sheet. It's not recycled, though. Brilliant White Paper - 26 x 40 in 200 lb Cover DT Smooth | Astrolite Paper

I've never used it, I just remembered finding it when doing some research for a project a while ago.

[vrooooom]

Paper weights can be misleading too; one brand's 100# may not be the same caliper as another.

I can back up squeegeethree's matboard suggestion. Are you die cutting? Coaster stock has also worked well for me as well. Chipboard is nice too.

[paul204]

Paper weights can be misleading too; one brand's 100# may not be the same caliper as another.

Well, this isn't quite misleading so much as the difference between basis weight and caliper. Density is the mediator between weight and caliper. Soft, light papers have a much higher caliper than hard papers. Carolina 12pt cover is 155#. Holyoke cotton rag is 140# (lighter) and its caliper is .029", or 29pt. Neither of those things is misleading or differently measured.

To respond to the question at hand:

Laminate a nice white cover (like the french you're talking about) to a recycled chipboard. It will look swellllllllllllllllll.

[vrooooom]

Well, this isn't quite misleading so much as the difference between basis weight and caliper. Density is the mediator between weight and caliper. Soft, light papers have a much higher caliper than hard papers. Carolina 12pt cover is 155#. Holyoke cotton rag is 140# (lighter) and its caliper is .029", or 29pt. Neither of those things is misleading or differently measured.

Yup yup. I'm going to start sending my clients to you for explanations. People throw paper weight around as an indicator of thickness, which it can be if all things are held consistent. But caliper is what I think this lady was trying to say.

[TripleStampPress]

Thanks to everyone for responding. To answer a few of your questions...

Because we mostly do textiles and smaller work, we aren't set up for much larger than 12.5" x 19". The finish size is only 1.75" x 3" so I should still be able to get quite a few to a sheet. It will be printed on both sides. It needs to be recycled and white. It can be speckled. It will not be die cut. I will be sending them out to a local commercial off-set printer for cutting. The order is for 1,500.

And most importantly, she is not concern so much with the cost.

The Mohawk is 100% recycled and comes as 12.5 x 19. It is 160 double thick cover, and 432 gsm.

That's a lot of information. The only thing it doesn't tell me is caliper, and apparently that is all I really need to know.


Is there some sort of trick to determining caliper like

X sheets of copy paper = 1pt

Or should I just quit typing and buy a micrometer gauge?

[paul204]

You should buy a micrometer.

Measure an inch of stock into a pile. Count the sheets. Move the decimal of the number you counted 3 places (divide by 1000.) There's a verrrrry aproximate caliper.

[jesusvbarraza]

cougar double thick...160#