Mitz Stone Paper MultiMedia Pad: multi purpose & media use. 8pt. TerraSkin rock paper, 9x12 inches, 25 sheets. Eco Alternative Creative Space

If you are looking at this product, you are probably want to know how it compares with YUPO, the alternative watercolor "paper.""Paper" is in parenthesis since YUPO is NOT really paper, but a partially-recycled plastic sheet that was originally made for magazine printing inks. (toners)Yupo gained recognition in art circles largely due to an aggressive marketing campaign involving one particular watercolor artist: Mark Mehaffey. After Mehaffey's work and methods received national recognition in art magazines, other watercolorists and multi-media painters jumped on the Yupo train.I too was seduced by the unusual effects, easy lifting and promises of wrinkle-free paper. Then I quickly learned the pitfalls of Yupo.Except for toner inks, nothing adheres well to Yupo, not even acrylics. That's amazing since acrylics are essentially colored glue that sticks to anything.Alcohol inks do some interesting things on Yupo, and all the techniques I know with those also work on this TerraSkin. Because of it's porous coating, I feel there is better control with this stuff though.Oil paint will stick to yupo if applied thickly, but then the oil slides over time as it oxidizes. Thin washes run and make a mess, which makes traditional oil-painting techniques a struggle.In hot conditions, (such as plein-air painting in the summer) realistic oil paintings melt. That can turn your hard work into surrealist paintings quickly, especially if left in the car. Unless you want to sing a chorus of "Hello Dali" avoid oils on yupo.Now I know some experimental artists who get beautiful results with Yupo, and occasionally I have too. (about one out of ten tries) However, that makes an expensive substrate even more expensive. True, you could clean yupo and start over, or gesso over it and try again, but once you see your work destroyed because it just won't stick, then you tend to give up on that "paper."Then I heard about this stuff... Terra Skin. The name makes sense when you think about it. It is made from ROCK, the "skin" of the Earth. ( Terra )It has all the good characteristics of Yupo but with less adhesion problems. Watercolor, inks and fluid acrylics actually stick to it. You can still lift as on Yupo, but once the layer is dry, it STAYS PUT.This stuff is almost impervious to water and does not wrinkle when wet, but the calcium carbonate surface absorbs SOME water and provides "tooth" that pigments can grab.That means it also works for pastels, pencils, charcoal in wet or dry applications.All those characteristics mean you can use this substrate vertically on an easel, something that is difficult with yupo which typically is only used on a flat horizontal surface.Oil paints behave beautifully on this stuff! It is a "fast" surface... like the finest hand-sanded panels with rabbit-skin gesso. Oil Paint glides on with a delightful tactile sensation... just heavenly!If you are a "detail" painter or illustrator, you will LOVE this surface! It takes the finest brushes, sharp pencil lines and ephemeral dustings imaginable.While in art school, I saw demonstrations of "matte paintings" ...those painted backdrops used in movies. In those demos, artists from Skywalker Studios showed us how they paint on GLASS with oils or acrylics. The smooth surface allows special effects those expert painters use with tremendous speed and panache. Although digital "matte painting" has largely replaced real paintings, I know there are still times when a REAL painting is better for movies. I can foresee many of those expert artists using this translucent, lightweight, flexible surface for those matte-painting backdrops. Like glass, they will be able to shine back-lights through the paintings, but they won't have the weight, break-ability or expense of glass.I mention that because I have already used this idea to make oriental lamps with sumi-e paintings on this Terra Skin. The light diffuses beautifully through TerraSkin and makes brush-strokes seem to "breathe" with life as you walk by.If you prefer a more "painterly" style, you'll find TerraSkin a welcome ally. It retains bold brush strokes, but it will also allow smooth gradient transitions. You can blend colors on the surface with aplomb, since removal is so easy. That allows you to compare colors next to each other in the painting.Terra Skin is fantastic for Air-Brush!Although I do not use my air brush much, certain effects are just easier and faster with air. Like Yupo, the TerraSkin surface is very fine. Unlike yupo, TerraSkin "grabs" pigment or dyes. That means you can add luscious deep shadows or blend a sky in seconds.TerraSkin is easy to cut with scissors, knives or a paper cutter... just don't try to tear it! The resin core is so tough and flexible, it just stretches. BTW, you can use that for some unusual effects! Sacrifice a sheet for this experiment: TRY to tear it... go ahead... just try! You'll see how it stretches. Then scrunch it up into a ball and watch it try to retain its original form.Now, slop some paint of your choice all over it, Use that to "print" the irregular distressed image anywhere.Another fun thing kids like is taking a printed photograph and stretching it. TerraSkin accepts printer ink nicely. Just let it dry thoroughly which take a minute or two. Then give the photo to your visiting brood and let them destroy the photo. They'll use their little fingers to poke & pull and play tug-o-war with that bitchy cousin's face. The giggles are worth the price.Terra Skin is less expensive than Yupo.The whole point of multi-media experimenting is to find artistic freedom, to be able to put any media you want on a surface, try new techniques, combine media for special effects. Well, TerraSkin fulfills that promise better than yupo AND it costs less.You can visit the manufacturer's website to learn about their eco-friendly production.Now, I must point out a few negatives.For anyone who enjoys multi-media approaches, this stuff is great since it readily accepts every medium I can find. (and over the last few decades, I have accumulated just about every medium extant!)It will not wrinkle when wet, so when inspiration strikes, you don't need to wait. Pull out a piece and start slathering any medium of your choice.LIKE yupo though, very-wet applications should be done on a horizontal surface. Watercolor WILL stick to it, but it runs easily. That can be good or bad depending on your intent.LIKE yupo, water media takes longer to "set" and dry on this... NOT as long as Yupo.Normal paper absorbs water and any pigment in solution. That holds paint in place until the water evaporates. So, although it seems to "dry" faster on normal paper, water-miscible paints actually are held in place by absorption. This stuff is slightly absorbent because calcium carbonate is porous, but don't expect to start glazing in five minutes. You will need 20 minutes or more before applying subsequent layers, especially if your brush technique is as coarse as mine.The ADVANTAGE of that for acrylic artists is the paint STAYS OPEN longer. I can do LARGE gradients with normal heavy-body acrylics on this stuff... no retarder needed.Fixative: Since this stuff is somewhat porous, fixative will actually work on it, unlike Yupo where fixative is practically useless.Gesso: A good quality gesso sticks to this too. Liquitex, Golden, Blick, Jerry's... all of those work. The only medium I had trouble with was Chromacryl, which although is a decent paint, doesn't have the adhesion necessary to hang-on to this stuff or Yupo.No matter what gesso I used on yupo, it could come off or get easily damaged while applying subsequent layers. So far, I have only had that problem once with Terra Skin, and that was because of the Chromacryl, not the substrate.Liquitex clear gesso sticks very well to this stuff AND it provides a new layer of tooth that will easily grab pastels or graphite or charcoal! That's a huge advantage for those who use a grisaille!I like that because I can use the clear gesso as a medium AND fixative in one operation... no VOCs from a spray can ! A quick shot with the blow-dryer and I'm ready for the next layer. That's a huge time saver! I also don't have to evict the studio cat to protect him from spray-can poisons. By itself, herding the cat is a time-consuming project.Like yupo, you can erase and lift easily... however, you must be aware of the staining nature of some pigments. Phthalocyanine, quinacridone, and azo are all staining pigments, so those will leave some "ghost" image.Now here's the good part for those who like to lift. This stuff has a removable surface layer, (rock) that you can actually scrub away. So even staining pigments will lift completely back to pure white! I could scarcely believe it myself, but I was able to scrub down through a layer of Pthalo blue INK to pure white in just seconds! ( with a standard eraser!) I do not know of any other surface you can do that with!Obviously, you can only do that once or twice before you reach the resin core, but that is something impossible to do on paper or yupo. Yupo is formulated to accept inks, dyes and staining pigments. So, although you can lift sedimentary watercolors completely up from yupo, once it is stained, it stays stained.Over all, I like this far better than yupo, which is NOT to say I'm in love with it. I still like my old-fashioned gessoed panels, canvas and papers. However, whenever I want to grab a sheet for a quick study or experiment in any media, this is my first choice. It does not wrinkle and accepts any pigment I have with ease.If you like to experiment with alternative techniques and mulit-media, this is a good product that's easy to use, far less expensive than Yupo and demonstrably better in most ways.

This "paper" is really fun to use. This stuff is smooth as silk... smoother even. For a while, all I did was play around with it, because it's so fun to play around with. One of my favorite things was doing a water wash and then putting India ink into it to watch the effects. It works very well, also, with watercolor and Inktense pencils. The caution I would give, though, is that you need to have a very flat surface, or the water will run together into a pool and muddy your colors.I will caution that regardless of what the manufacturer claims, it's a pretty poor choice for anything like charcoal that requires a toothy substrate. It has nothing to cling to, and it goes on light and hazy. I've included a pair of pictures I did with charcoal, from the same reference, to show you the difference between charcoal on charcoal paper and charcoal on TerraSkin.I won't knock a star off for that, because that's just not what it's good for. It's excellent for many other media. I just wish they wouldn't advertise it for media it isn't well suited for.If you like a sensory drawing or painting experience, this is definitely worth a try. The feeling of using something so very smooth is a beautiful novelty. Just don't expect it to behave like regular paper. You'll have to experiment with it to figure out what its capabilities and limitations are.

I bought this because I hadn't heard of it before busy life-- I am mostly a 3 dimensional artist) I wanted to give my granddaughter some experience with different kinds of paper, and I myself have started an artists journal, so that I can further explore more 2 dimensional worksI tried it myself with Prismaacolor Nupastel chalks. the "paper" didn't absorb much of the color, brighter colors muted out when i tried to smear, and then it quickly reached it's saturation limit. Sharpie Pens worked really well. Colored Pencils worked well but with the "harder leaded" you have to be careful not to make a lasting impression on the surface itself. I will continue to try different mediums on the surface, it is interesting and Just perfect for some applications I iimagine

I am most disappointed because it is my understanding that stone paper would not tear & but could be cut,making it useful for certain project. I had seen a video where the paper was made into a beautiful pencilcase after painting, stamping etc. However, you can easily tear this paper!!!!

I only learned of this paper a few weeks ago. I was very pleased to find it in a pad this size to experiment with. I absolutely love its uniqueness! Like the reviewer who gave us a terrific lengthy review of all this paper is capable of I had also tried Yupo. Terraskin paper comes out on top big-time! Thank you Amazon for providing this resource for us in a 9 x 12 pad.

love this paper.extremely versatile and fun to work with

This stuff is really super to work with.

Kk

nice paper - interesting to work with