How to Stretch Watercolor Paper PERFECTLY!

Here’s a demonstration of the watercolor paper stretching technique that I’ve been using successfully now for 30 years. Some highlights from the video: Stretching watercolor paper is important to keep it from rippling and wrinkling during the painting process. Stretching also softens the paper and makes it more water-absorbent and receptive to watercolor paint. The coating of gelatin sizing on unstretched hot press paper causes paint to bead on the surface, producing hard drying lines. Stretching helps remove some of this gelatin and prepares the paper for even, subtle washes. The very smoothest Arches watercolor paper is 140 lb. hot press. You can paint on 300 lb. hot press if you want to avoid stretching paper, but it is slightly rougher than 140 lb. hot press paper. And 300 lb. paper will still warp and deform when it gets really wet. The full-size (22x30-inch) Arches watercolor paper sheets seem to be better quality than the Arches paper you get on a pad or in a bloc