Supply notes Layered
Rice Paper vs Tissue: The Tear Test
Six decorative papers torn by hand, by steel rule and by a wet brush line. Two of them tear in a straight line every time; the other four need water if you want a controlled edge.
6 layers 7 min
What actually decides the tear
Tearing follows fibre. Rice paper is made from mulberry bast beaten into long fibres that lie in a loose criss-cross; tissue is a short-fibre sheet with almost no direction; glassine is calendered so hard that the fibres are flattened into an almost plastic film. That single difference explains every result below — long fibres wander, short fibres obey, flattened fibres split.
The three tear methods
Hand tear: pinch between thumb and forefinger 8 mm apart and pull slowly toward yourself. Steel-rule tear: press the rule along the intended line and pull the paper up against it. Water-line tear: paint a line of clean water 6 mm wide, wait 20 seconds for the fibres to soften, then tear along the wet line. Each gives a different edge, and none is simply better than the others.
Results by paper
Rice paper wandered 4 to 9 mm off the intended line by hand, and 2.5 mm even against a steel rule — the long fibres simply do not respect an edge. Tissue followed a steel rule to within 0.8 mm. Glassine split cleanly by hand but only along its grain; across the grain it tore in a ragged step 3 mm wide. The wet-line method brought rice paper down to 1.2 mm of wander, which is the only method worth using on it.
Choosing by job
For a torn edge you want to look torn, use rice paper and tear by hand — the wander is the feature. For a torn edge that must follow a line, use tissue against a rule. For an edge that has to disappear under an overlay, use glassine and tear with the grain. Buying one of each and testing on offcuts costs less than redoing a spread.
Assembly order
- 1Cut six 60 x 90 mm offcuts of each paper so every method gets a fresh sample.
- 2Pencil a target line 30 mm in from one long edge on every sample.
- 3Tear two samples by hand, two against the steel rule, two along a wetted line.
- 4Measure the maximum deviation from the pencil line with a steel rule.
- 5Note which paper wandered in which direction — the drift is repeatable.
About 7 minutes of bench time, plus whatever the adhesive needs.
Supplies
- Decorative rice paper, 30 gsm fibrous, mulberry base
- Tissue paper, 17 gsm smooth, no fibre
- Glassine, 40 gsm translucent, calendered
- Steel rule, 300 mm straight edge, undamaged
- Size 8 round brush for the water-line tear
Wander from the intended line, three methods
| Paper | Hand tear | Steel rule | Wet line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice paper 30 gsm | 4-9 mm | 2.5 mm | 1.2 mm |
| Tissue 17 gsm | 3-6 mm | 0.8 mm | 0.7 mm |
| Glassine 40 gsm | 1.1 mm with grain / 3 mm across | 0.9 mm | not needed |
| Kraft 110 gsm | 5-11 mm | 1.4 mm | 2.0 mm |
Where this goes wrong
Rice paper sold as 30 gsm is often 22 to 34 gsm in the same pack, and the lighter sheets wander almost twice as far. Weigh the sheets you actually plan to use instead of trusting the wrapper.
