This Is What Happens When You Gesso Paper

This is what happens when you gesso paper. I thought I'd make this quick time-lapse video so you'll know what to expect if you want to gesso drawing paper.

First of all, make sure you've properly stretched your paper and secured the paper to your board with paper tape.

I have another video about stretching paper so please check it out if you have any questions about how to do it.

You'll see that the paper begins to wrinkle as soon as I begin applying the gesso.

Paper is made of plant fibers and dried plant fibers expand when they get wet. As the paper soaks up the moisture from the gesso, the expanding paper fibers have no where to go but up and down so the paper wrinkles.

There's no need to worry. Watch the short time-lapse to see the wrinkles disappear as the gesso dries.

As the gesso dries, the paper fibers shrink. By the time the gesso is fully dry, you should have a perfectly flat and durable drawing surface.

Gesso makes the surface of the paper very durable so it can better handle erasing, multi-media techniques, and more.

I hope you enjoy drawing on gessoed paper.

#gesso #paper #drawingpaper