Ladybug Explosion- Baohong Academy Watercolor Paper Review

We originally talked about the Baohang Academy watercolor paper in this two-fer review:    • Is It Any Good? Watercolor Paper from...  

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Materials (Inking)
Winsor and Newton Series 7 Round, Size 2
Dinky Dips or Paint Pots
FW Acrylic Ink- Payne's Grey
Shallow ramekin to hold water

Materials (Watercolor):
Daily driver watercolor palette
Masking Fluid
Dinky dip cup
Brush Soap
Masking Fluid Pickup
Watercolor rounds in various sizes
Faber-Castell Click and Go Cup
Paint Puck
Derwent Inktense pencils
White Gouache
Advanced Inking Techniques Playlist:

Watercolor Paper Reviews:

Chinese Watercolor Paper: Baohang Cotton Watercolor Paper: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/40000...

Available in Fine grain, Medium Grain, and Course Grain. We're looking at the Medium Grain today.
300 G/M- 140lb paper
A bit thinner than I'm used to for 140lb paper, but I didn't realize how thin it was until I removed it from the block


Took brush decently well
The block held tight during the initial washes- no real buckling or pulling

The Himalayan rock salt doesn't have as drastic a salt effect as I'd hoped- Kosher is still the best salt for watercolor in my opinion.

Paper dries reasonably quickly- on par with other w/c cottonrag blocks of this size, and all four sides are glued

Paper has a fairly assertive texture- the coldpress isn't as pronounced as say Shizen, but there seems to be a lot of sizing in the paper, so the texture is a bit like sandpaper. This would be GREAT for drybrush.

Once this paper is saturated, it seems to take awhile to dry out.

This paper is great for sedimenting paints

Handles masking fluid well- both application and removal. No tearing issues

When spritzed with water, colors don't reactivate as much as on Fluid EZ Block (similar technique, see the Cambio Tambien video), so this is a paper to use if you like a lot of glazes

Decent texture for watercolor pencils

If using gouache, you may want to work more wet to avoid drybrushing and increase control

Removes from the block easily with a palette knife

Pros:
Reasonably priced on AliExpress
Nice texture for coldpress
BLock holds the paper tight- no buckling or kipping from the block
Takes layers well
Would be good for plein air painting
20 sheets- a fair amount of paper

Cons:
If you order it from AliExpress, you'll have to wait awhile for it to arrive
If you end up loving this paper, you should stock up when you order, because you won't be able to find it in brick and mortar US based art stores

You wanna be careful buying art supplies on AliExpress as knockoffs are pretty common. Read the reviews at the very least.

You can find the hotpress available on Amazon under the Meeden name: https://amzn.to/3l817v1 as well as a Baohong pad that looks different from the one I reviewed (it may be the same, yall let me know) https://amzn.to/39fXp05

Music:

#BaohangAcademyWatercolorPaper #AliExpressWatercolor #Cheapwatercolorpaper