Written by Toned paper. I love it! I often make my own by painting it with coffee before drawing on it. In 2017, the Grey Book was released, and as you might suspect, it has grey-toned paper. Now, Hahnemühle has released the Cappuccino Book with light brown-toned paper the color of … wait for it … coffee. Hahnemühle sent me a copy of each book in the A5 size. I can keep my coffee for drinking now!
Why would you want toned paper in the first place?
On white and ivory paper, light colors tend to be overpowered by darker colors. On toned paper, light colors are more intense and dominate. Darker colors are less intense, because there is less contrast against the paper. Even transparent color is more opaque because of this. Some colors change. For instance, a yellow might appear greener against a grey-toned paper.
But the toned paper also imparts an overall richness, and that reversal, light dominating over dark, gives your work a whole different effect that is excellent! This effect varies between brands and colors of toned paper, so the first question I’ll look to answer is how these grey toned and brown toned affect colors. Given that this is primarily a watercolor based group, the second question I’ll look at is whether these books can handle watercolor.
Look & Feel
The Cappuccino Book has light brown paper with a dark brown hardcover and a color-coordinated brown ribbon. The Grey Book has light grey paper, a dark grey hardcover and a red ribbon. These are the only differences between the two books.
Each book has 40 sheets / 80 pages. The paper is only 55 lb, but it is sturdy stuff. It is acid-free and has a high level of longevity.
I love the texture of the hardcovers – it looks and feels like woodgrain.
The binding is thread-stitched.
The edges of the cover extend past the body of the paper.
The books lie flat, allowing you to work across the seam.
The books also fold back completely so they can be held in one hand, if needed.
Performance
The official Hahnemühle description says these books are suitable for “Indian-ink pens, fountain pens and acrylic markers, as well as other water-based pens with minimum abrasion.” Based on my tests, I believe this, but I think they can handle other mediums as well.
I started out with a test page, writing with several different mediums. I had no pilling or feathering and no show-through on the back from any of the mediums I used.
The only bleed-through came from the Permanent Marker and the wet-into-wet watercolor test. This was expected in both cases. Permanent Marker bleeds through everything unless it is specially coated or extremely heavy. When you add wet paint into wet paint it tends to saturate the paper. Watercolor paper is made for this, while sketchbook paper isn’t. More on that later though.
Flexible Nib Color Brushes
My next test was to see what difference there would be in color against the brown-tone and the grey-tone.
I wanted to tackle the question concerning brightness of color and transparency first. I used Zebra Pen Funwari Fude color brushes, which are vibrant but semi-transparent, feeling they’d give me a good idea of both.
In the Cappuccino, the colors were fairly true. The yellow and orange were off the most, as expected. The blues were truest. All the colors were bright, but less intense than on white or ivory paper.
In the Grey book, the colors were even less intense and darker. I ended up using fluorescent gel pens to brighten up the page. Having worked on grey tone before, I wasn’t surprised. It brings out the bright, fluorescent colors that get lost on lighter papers.
But watercolor! Ah yes! My favorite medium. I had to try it out even though it isn’t a recommended medium for this paper. And the result was good!
I started with the Cappuccino book, using Aquanut watercolors by Margaret Zaleski because they sparkle and I wanted to see if the toned background would bring that out (it didn’t). Using negative painting, I added three glazes of color, and then started lifting to see how easy it would be and what damage it might cause. I love trying to destroy paper!
Especially, when I can’t, lol. I was able to get almost all the way back to the brown-tone (in the moon figure). I was able to repaint over areas where I had lifted and I had no pilling of the paper. There was no more damage than I would have expected with a decent watercolor paper.
Although the color was faded where I lifted, the initial layers were surprisingly bright.
Encouraged by my first test, I decided to try a sunset. I was even more surprised by how bright the color was. I do like surprises!
In these first two paintings, I was being careful with how much water I used and I had no bleed-through to the back. The paper did curl at the corners while I painted but dried flat. The paper is dimpled once dry.
Switching to the Grey Book, I decided go wet. I taped the pages down to protect the rest of the book but it helped keep the pages from curling too. There wasn’t much buckling. To my surprise, the colors were bright! I did not expect that.
I didn’t use wet-into-wet, where you add paint to an area already wet, but I thoroughly saturated the paper, painted one layer then let it dry completely before adding another layer. The paint doesn’t move – once you’ve put it down, it stays without spreading.
There were only a few dots of bleed-through on the back and I couldn’t get them to show up in a scan or photo. The paper dried flat with some dimpling.
I had no trouble removing the masking tape, and it did not damage the paper.
While I wouldn’t recommend this as a watercolor book, it will certainly take watercolor.
Questions answered.
How does the toned paper in these books affect color and transparency? About average for toned paper. Transparent colors are more opaque, and less true. The grey affects the color more than the brown. Both papers have that lovely light-dominate over dark effect.
How well do the books take watercolor? Much better than I thought. The paper definitely dimples afterwards and I wouldn’t recommend wet-into-wet. The paint doesn’t spread easily, so no drippy effects, either. The surprise was how bright the colors were.
Fountain Pen and Gel Pen
Fountain pen is always a good test for paper because it will often bleed through, show through, and sometimes even damage the paper. I used both a broad and a fine nib fountain and scribbled over the same area but had none of the problems listed above. The Cornaline d’Egypte ink I used has a sheen, which did not show up at all on the grey tone, and the color was less intense.
The Uniball white gel pen worked a treat. I love the way it blended in the areas I had shaded with the orange ink. Now this is what grey toned paper does best.
After using this combination in the Grey Book, I was curious to see how it worked in the Cappuccino. The Cornaline d’Egypte was more opaque as it was in the Grey Book and there was no sheen. The white gel pen was as bright, but of course the contrast was less. I decided to try some Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen colors.
Fineliners
This paper likes pen of any kind. These Zensations Fineliners, which have a fabric tip similar to a technical pen, glided across the paper. The color was muted, but rich nonetheless.
Phineas the Basenji Photo Reference courtesy of Doodlewash.com
Ballpoint Pen
But what about the good, old fashioned ballpoint pen? I mentioned earlier that I like to paint my paper with coffee for a toned background to draw on. I usually use Zebra Z-Grip ballpoint pens in those drawings, so I was curious to see the effect with the Cappuccino paper.
The pens worked great. No clogging or leaving bits of ink, which is a problem I often have with my coffee backgrounds. Ballpoint will do that – it’s an established problem. I think this paper has just enough tooth to help keep the pen point cleaned off, though that might differ from pen to pen and according to weather.
Pencil
I don’t use pencil much, but wanted to see how it would work in these books. The paper is a bit smooth for it. Lefty that I am, I kept polishing the graphite as I went along and had to re-apply. I used a Zebra Drafix mechanical pencil and I think I’d have done better with a softer lead, but I’m pleased with the result. The paper takes erasing well, the lead lifting easily with no damage to the paper.
Carousel Photo Reference courtesy of Doodlewash.com
Overall
The Hahnemühle Cappuccino Book and Grey Book are toned paper sketchbooks with elegant hard covers. The paper is only 55 lbs but surprisingly sturdy and able to take a wide range of mediums. Though not formulated for watercolor, it takes it well. The paper curls during the painting and dries flat but retains some dimpling.
As with all toned papers, some colors are more opaque and less intense than they are on white and ivory paper. White and some lighter colors, especially fluorescent colors are brighter and more intense.
You can find a complete list of stores that carry the Cappuccino book and Grey book at my Life Imitates Doodles blog.
Disclaimer:
Hahnemühle sent me a copy of both the Cappuccino Book and the Grey Book for the purposes of this review. I received no other considerations, though this post may contain affiliate links which help support Doodlewash. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
I’ve been thinking about trying toned paper, in particular for watercolors of white flowers – there are a lot of them blooming right now!
Either of these would be great for drawing or painting white flowers!
Thank you for sharing the information!
Thank you, Mary!
Very thorough review–thanks! I’ve been wanting to pick up toned tan paper that could handle a light wash of the Van Gogh paints. The brighteners in that brand seem like a good match for toned paper.
Thank you, Bekki! I think the Cappuccino and Van Gogh would be a fantastic match!
Great review as usual!! Love the toned paper, I need a new sketchbook for my purse. I use fine liners for daily sketches and occasionally a touch of watercolor. These sound like just what I need!!
By the way – incredible art as usual!!
Thank you so much, Chris! I think one of these books would be perfect for what you need!
Great write up Sandra and the blog as well tried color paper in the 80 with ink really enjoyed reading your write up
Thank you, Les!
PS what is pilling I have not heard of this term? Thank you les
Sometimes, when you use paint or ink that is too wet or a pen that is too rough, you get little pills of paper that build up to create rough spots or even tear away. Pilling is a term used when that happens.
Great review! I wonder how this paper would work with colored pencils.
I only did a writing test, but based on the pencil drawing I did I think you’d want to use large, soft lead and very pigmented pencil or you’d work to build up color. Also, colored pencil tends to be transparent so colors would be darker and less true. Still I think they’d be pretty on this paper.
LOVE!!!! Your work is so wonderful, thoroughly enjoyed your review, think I might try some!
Thank you, Vicki! I’m definitely sold on them!
yowza! now I can’t wait to get my cappuccino book! I never found the greybook took watercolors that well but I shall try again and definitely on the brown paper, it looked like ti took it even better. Great review my friend!
Thank you, Jennifer. I found that as long as I avoided wet-into-wet, I had no problem beyond the curling. The colors are definitely more opaque though – which only makes sense with a darker base.
THank you for this wonderful information!
Thank you, Jean! I’m glad you found the review interesting!
Sandra I LOVE your sheep!! So fun! I always find a joyousness in your work. Thanks for the wonderful review! Toned papers all always tempting. 🙂 X
Thank you, Jessica! I love drawing and painting sheep. All those curls!
thx for sharing!
Thank you, Carol!
I’d love to try these papers!
Thank you, Val! I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier.
I love these and love the color of the paper especially the Cappichino colored. I have wanted to try the Zensation pens also.
Sandra your work always is stunning and your techiques amaze me. I love the leafy ones with the watercolor and the sheep are so cute especially the thinking sheep.
I would love to win this as I need new creative items to inspire me to keep trying zentangle and drawing. Thank you for your reviews.
Thank you, Dorothy! I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier.
I love toned papers and always have a toned sketchbook in my oil painting backpack. I use them to do thumbnails before painting because white charcoal on toned paper gives me a perfect map of the brightest brights in the scene and the paper is the instant mid-tone.
Thank you, Cheryl! I love toned paper for the same reason.
Great review!
Thank you, Joanne!
Thanks so much for sharing , I want to try !! Look good!! 🤩
Thank you Susy! It’s still one of my favorite toned papers.
I have heard of them, but never considered. They do look Very interesting. I just might try them.
Thank you, Nancy! I love the paper.
I’m very happy to be introduced to these beautiful books. Great for sketching, writing, doodling.
Thank you, Linda! You are right – they are good for all of that!
Very intensive and informative! MaryAnn S-D, CZT
Thank you, MaryAnn!
Very good review, thank you for all the information!
Thank you, Val!
Very Interesting
Thank you, Jc!
Great information. Thank you for posting.
Thank you, Judy! My pleasure!
Thanks for the wonderful review I would love to try these. I love how the colored paper works with different types of art work. 🙂
Thank you, Lisa! These are my favorite toned paper.
Outstanding review! I really like how you tried so many different mediums
with these papers, and how you showed so many nice examples of how
they turned out. Don’t see many folks mention ballpoint pen during art supply
reviews, but I use them, too–(along with colored pencils, ink, watercolors,etc.),
so it was fun to see you mention this. I’ll be sure to check out your blog!
Many thanks, Starr!
Thanks for all the great info. Lucky you trying out all these fun items! Hope to be lucky too!🤞
Oh thanks, great review on this product. I wondered about it… now I know 🙂
This is so fun! I didn’t even know about such things. I love the book format and I can’t wait to find one of my own.