Surface Qualities Surface or texture is a characteristic of paper determined by the quality of a paper and how the fibers lie in the sheet. When it comes to paper finishes, a consumer has many options from which to choose. Watercolor papers are typically made in three different surface created during manufacture. Hot press papers achieve their surface by pressing the formed sheets between hot rollers. Rolling the formed sheet between cold rollers forms cold press textured papers.
Rough papers are just what they sound like, papers that have the most texture of the surface types.
Vellum surfaces, not to be confused with vellum papers, are typical of the majority of papers that possess a medium tooth. Plate surfaces are very smooth due to a thin clay coating and are excellent for mediums such as ink that do not require tooth for gripping. Sizing Sizing is an important consideration when choosing papers for use with water or wet mediums. Sizing refers to the substance added to a paper to make it moisture or water-resistant in varying degrees. The two methods of sizing a sheet of paper are internal sizing and tub sizing.