Strathmore 400 Series 42 x 10yd Cold Press Watercolor Roll by Strathmore 300 Series

I have a slight paper fetish and love the flexibility that 10 yards of 42" wide paper offers me. I also read the reviews to have an idea of what to expect. This roll of paper came as described - wrapped in a shrink plastic container and unboxed. You will see photos of what happens at the end of the rolls - they aren't my photos, though my roll bears striking similarity. I found that a Staedtler white plastic eraser removed 98% of the marks without damaging the paper. You will also read a review here about back rolling the paper onto another tube and letting it rest a few days before working with it - that is Golden advice particularly if you want sheets that will stay flat when taped to a board for painting. I will probably use this paper to make concertina sketchbooks. 42 inches will give me a lot of variety but I will probably choose a 12" and three 10" inch tall concertina books about 10 feet long. The paper is 140 pounds (300gsm) and is a good student quality so it will be excellent for my purpose. I am very happy to have it.

Good quality paper. Will buy again.

Love this stuff

Great product

This is really good watercolor paper for the price. It is not cotton and so there are differences in its performance compared to cotton, but it is still extremely workable. And personally for some watercolor effects I find non cotton papers preferable. Shhh, don’t tell lol. Things I especially like about this paper (other than the price point) are the color (it is a brighter white than some brands), that it has a relatively smooth surface for incorporating dry media and that it is quite sturdy. Things that I dislike are the size of this pad, 11”x15” is one inch over the commonly frameable 11”x14” size and that makes it a bit inconvenient. It either must be taped off to 11”x14” or you’ll end up having to pay much more to frame your finished pieces, so you may want to keep that in mind before starting a painting. It’s not a huge deal but I find it very odd that it is this size. another issue is that the glue used for these blocks is not the best. I have yet to paint a painting on it without any buckling, which is the whole point of a block lol, but I still manage to work around that as most buckling can be easily fixed afterwards. I recommend taping around the edges and down the sides if you can to secure it better. I’d love to give this paper a 5 because I do really love it and work on it extensively. But because of the odd sizing and the not so great glue a 4 feels more fair. I’ve added a photo and video of my most recent painting done on this paper. I hope it’s helpful to see.