Onionskin paper

Onion skin paper watermark under transmitted light. Image from: Rita Audina

Description

A thin, lightweight, strong, translucent writing paper. Onionskin paper is made from bleached and hydrated chemical pulp with at least 25% cotton fibers. The long fibers are sized with rosin, starch, or glue then supercalendered to produce a glazed or cockle finish. It takes ink well and erases easily. It was widely marketed for office work from the 1920s to 70s but may have been manufactured as early as the mid-19th century (Audina 2025).

Origami: Propeller plane made of two pieces of folded onion skin paper by Seiji Nishikawa

. In general onionskin paper is thinner, and stronger, but less transparent than tracing paper.

Synonyms and Related Terms

onion skin paper; onion-skin paper (Br.); pelure surglacée (Fr.); airmail paper; Bible paper

Applications

• Permanent records
• Low bulk operations, such as airmail correspondence
• Making multiple typewritten duplicates with carbon copy paper
• Technical and architectural drawings
• Used to duplicate key frames in cel animation drawings because of its transparency; called inbetweening or onionskinning
• Calligraphy, card making
• Crafting, origami, toy kites and paper airplanes
• Lampshades and lanterns

Physical and Chemical Properties

• Weight = 25-39 g/m2 (7-10 pound basis weight in US units)
• Color = white or yellowish
• Finish = smooth or cockled
• Coating = Typically uncoated

Working Properties

• Crisp and holds creasing extremely well
• Works extremely well with fountain pens; does not bleed or feather
• May or may not work with laser or inkjet printing equipment; may be too thin; ink may smear
• May help to hand-feed sheet, print each individual as well as allowing ink to dry prior to use

Resources and Citations

• Rita Audina: Onion skin paper: History, Uses, Composition and Conservation Accessed Sept. 2025
• Wikipedia: Onionskin Accessed Sept. 2025
• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 576
• Boise Cascade Paper Group, The Paper Handbook, Boise Cascade, Portland OR, 1989
• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982
• Book and Paper Group, Paper Conservation Catalog, AIC, 1984, 1989
• The Dictionary of Paper, American Paper Institute, New York, Fourth Edition, 1980
• E.J.LaBarre, Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Paper and Paper-making, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1969
• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000