Sophie Atkinson
Start with what gsm actually tells you
In the UK, paper is sold by weight — grams per square metre, or gsm. It sounds like a technicality until you hold two sheets side by side: the number is your best shorthand for how thick, stiff and substantial a paper will feel once it is printed and folded. Everyday copier paper is 80gsm. Somewhere around 170gsm a sheet stops behaving like paper and starts behaving like card. Anything from 250gsm upwards is properly described as invitation stock.
Two caveats worth knowing early. First, gsm is not the same as thickness in microns — a bulky, airy 250gsm sheet can feel thicker than a dense, smooth 300gsm one. Second, imported packs are sometimes labelled in pounds, which is a different system entirely; if the number looks like 65 or 110 and the paper feels like thin card, you are almost certainly looking at lb, not gsm. Stick with gsm and you will keep your bearings.
The weight ladder, from inserts to statement cards
It helps to think in bands rather than single numbers. These are the ranges most UK home printers cope with, and what each one is genuinely good for:
- 80–100gsm: practice prints, order-of-service sheets, envelope liners and anything that will be folded inside something else. Feeds through every printer without complaint.
- 120–160gsm: the sensible middle ground for flat invitations, RSVP cards, menus and save-the-dates that will be posted. Still flexible enough for most trays.
- 200–250gsm: the sweet spot for folded cards. A4 folded in half to A5 at 250gsm feels genuinely substantial in the hand without fighting your printer.
- 300–350gsm: luxury territory — flat A5 invitations, covers and keepsake cards. Beautiful, but you need a printer with a straight or rear feed, and folding usually requires scoring first.
If you are making a folded A6 card, you are effectively doubling the perceived weight when it stands up, so 200gsm often reads as richer than it sounds on paper.
Match the weight to the job
A card that will be posted, handled and possibly propped on a mantelpiece needs more body than one tucked into a gift bag. For flat invitations, 250–300gsm gives a satisfying rigidity and resists dog-earing in the post. Inserts and details cards can drop to 120–160gsm so they do not bulk out the envelope or add postage weight. Envelopes are usually 100–120gsm; if you are printing directly onto them, keep to the lower end and check they feed without crumpling.
Also consider the finish on the reverse. A heavy card printed on one side only can curl as the ink dries, so if you are printing a full-colour design, choose a weight your printer can handle without straining — and leave the sheets flat under a book overnight.
Texture and finish change everything
Weight is only half the story. Surface decides how your ink sits, how your design reads and how the card feels in the fingers:
- Wove or smooth uncoated: the reliable all-rounder. Takes pigment and dye inks well, dries quickly, holds fine detail.
- Laid and linen: subtle ribs and woven textures that look wonderful with simple type, but they can break up thin lines and small lettering.
- Coated silk, matt and gloss: vivid colour and crisp photographs, though coated sheets dry more slowly and can smudge if you handle them too soon.
- Cotton rag: soft, tactile and expensive-looking. It drinks ink, so allow extra drying time and avoid very fine hairlines.
- Recycled stocks: often slightly warmer in tone and a little more absorbent. Beautiful for rustic designs, less forgiving for dense dark blocks of colour.
If your design has delicate line work or small serif type, lean smooth. If it is bold, minimal and typographic, texture will do you favours.
Keeping your home printer happy
Before you buy a ream, check your printer's manual for the maximum media weight — many inkjets top out around 250gsm, and some lasers are stricter still. Then work with the machine, not against it:
- Load heavy stock one sheet at a time through the rear or straight-through feed where possible; built-in trays often bend the sheet too sharply.
- Select the thick paper or cardstock setting so the printer slows and adjusts the roller gap.
- Keep sheets flat and dry. Damp card curls, jams and prints unevenly.
- Score folds on anything above 200gsm with a bone folder and a ruler, folding parallel to the paper's grain so the crease stays clean and does not crack.
Test before you commit
Buy a small sample pack rather than a full box, and print your actual design at the intended size. A test sheet tells you more than any specification: whether your ink feathers on the texture, whether the fold sits crisp, and whether the finished card feels as generous as you hoped. Once you have found your weight and finish, note the details down — matching a favourite stock again six months later is far easier when you have written it down.
