Marlow Rag Block 300
100% cotton, 300 gsm, cold-pressed, 20 sheets gummed
$46.00
USDStandard shipping $8.00, free over $75. Arrives in 3–6 business days. 30-day returns.
Twenty sheets of 300 gsm cotton rag, gummed on all four edges onto a board. The gumming is the entire point: it holds the top sheet under tension while it dries, so a wash that would cockle a loose sheet dries flat instead. You cut the finished sheet off with a knife along the one ungummed gap in the corner.
Cold-pressed, meaning the sheet was pressed between felts rather than polished, so it carries a moderate tooth. That tooth is what breaks a dry stroke and holds granulation. It is the middle of the three surfaces and the one to buy if you are buying one.
Internally sized through the pulp and then surface sized again after forming. Two sizings is what lets you lift colour back out and rework an area without the surface pilling into fluff. A singly sized sheet takes one lift and starts to break down.
The specification
Everything we know about this item, stated plainly. The same record is printed on the card in the box.
- Composition
- 100% cotton rag, acid-free, internally and surface sized, cold-pressed. Chlorine-free. 20 sheets, gummed on four edges to a 2 mm greyboard backing.
- Dimensions
- Sheet 305 × 230 mm; block 308 × 233 × 14 mm
- Weight
- 300 gsm per sheet; 690 g the block
- Finish & variation
- Moderate cold-pressed tooth, slightly irregular across the sheet because it is mould-made rather than machine-cut. Colour is a warm natural white that varies very slightly between mill runs; a block bought a year apart may not match exactly.
- Made
- Mould-made on a cylinder machine at a mill in Somerset, England, then rested and sized before it is cut. Two true deckles per sheet, two torn.
Care
- Store flat, in the dark, away from a radiator or an exterior wall.
- Handle by the edges — skin oils resist a wash and show as pale patches later.
- Stretch or tape the sheet down before a heavy wet wash.
Cautions
- Not for the very heaviest washes. Gummed edges hold 300 gsm flat through normal wet work, but a genuinely flooded sheet can still lift at a corner — use the 640 gsm for that.
- Not for tearing off before it is dry. Cut a wet sheet loose and it cockles as it dries, which defeats the block.
- Not archival once it has been worked with a non-archival medium — the sheet is acid-free, but what you put on it may not be.
- Deckle edges are irregular by design and vary sheet to sheet. Do not order expecting four machine-cut edges.
Shipping
$8.00 standard, free over $75. 3–6 business days. Full policy
30 DAYS
Returns
Unused and in original packaging. Refunded within 5 business days of reaching us. Full policy
Questions about this product
hello@purgostudio.comEvery message answered within one business day.