You’re an adventurous crafter, one who refuses to be limited by arbitrary notions of what you can and cannot do with paper. If you have an idea, you’re willing to experiment and see what you can create.
If this is your first venture into chipboard sheets, you’re in for a treat. Chipboard, sometimes called paperboard, is a hardy material that offers a sturdy, functional alternative to cardstock while still giving you the versatility you need for your most far-fetched crafting projects.
What is chipboard and how can you use it in your next big crafting project? Keep reading to learn more.
What is Chipboard?
Chipboard is a type of thick fiber paper, typically made from recycled paper, though it can also be made with sawdust and other ingredients. You may have heard it references as particleboard or paperboard.
Basically, chipboard is made by taking fragments of recycled paper, forming them into layers, and gluing the layers together. An adhesive is applied with heat and pressure to ensure the material stays together as one cohesive product. It also ensures that the product becomes rigid and smooth to the touch.
In many ways, chipboard is similar to cardboard–it’s actually a type of non-corrugated cardboard, meaning it does not have ruffled fluting between the two layers which makes corrugated cardboard hollow.
Chipboard Thickness
If you’re unfamiliar with chipboard, you may not know the difference between thick chipboard sheets and thin chipboard sheets.
Whether you measure in inches or mm, the standard chipboard thickness is 30 pt, or 624 gsm, depending on whether you use the U.S. system or the metric system. Our paper weight guide can help you make heads or tails of chipboard labels.
If you look at that table, you’ll notice that even standard chipboard is quite a bit heavier than standard cardstock. Heavy chipboard isn’t quite cardboard, but it can be close. Our standard chipboard weight is based on the typical paper weight used by those who buy chipboard for craft projects.
Chipboard Sizes
If you’re looking into chipboard as a vital ingredient for your next project, you might be wondering: what are the available chipboard sheet sizes, and can I find the right size sheet for my project?
The nice thing about chipboard is that it’s quite versatile. It comes in a wide array of standard sizes which are suitable for almost any crafting project, whether you’re creating a scrapbook or a DIY holiday card.
Standard chipboard sizes include:
The smallest size, 3 x 5 chipboard, is a great choice for small projects that need to be sturdy, like cards. Chipboard that’s around the size of regular printer paper is a fantastic choice as a book cover, since it’s hardier than regular cardstock but still fits your book pages perfectly.
Larger sizes (11 x 17 and up) are great if you want to create signs and other large-scale projects. Chipboard looks good even when it weathers considerable damage. That way, your signs will stay looking fresh and beautiful, no matter how much rough handling it receives.
So the only real limit on chipboard sizing is the imagination you have to utilize it.
What Is Chipboard Used For?
Chipboard is a hardy material, but it’s still a surprisingly versatile product. It can be used in almost anything you’d like, from boxes to children’s art projects to soundproofing. You’re only really limited by your imagination.
That said, because of the sturdiness of the material, chipboard is most useful for products that need to withstand more abuse than the average cardstock could tolerate.
Here are some of the most common projects our customers order chipboard for.
Scrapbooking
In terms of crafting projects, scrapbooking is one of the most popular ways to use chipboard. This has everything to do with versatility.
When you make your own scrapbook from scratch, the sky is the limit. But that also means you need materials that can withstand some wear and tear and still look good doing it.
This is especially true if you’re creating your own scrapbook covers rather than using a book with its own binding. Chipboard is a great choice for scrapbooks held together with binder rings or ribbons because it’s sturdy enough to serve as a cover.
It’s also a great choice for scrapbook pages, since chipboard is flexible enough to work as a page and firm enough to hold a lot of embellishment without crumbling.
Book Making and Book Covers
Are you the kind of crafter who loves the idea of book making but you’ve always struggled to find the right book covers? Look no further than chipboard.
As with scrapbooking, chipboard is a great choice for other types of books because it’s sturdy enough to look clean and polished even with a lot of abuse. This makes it a great choice for book covers, since it can help protect thinner pages without showing signs of wear and tear.
Chipboard is less suited to serve as a page in a traditional book or magazine, mostly because the material is too stiff to turn smoothly. This works just fine in scrapbooks, where you don’t want to bend the pages for fear of ruining your hard work, but for a regular book or magazine, it’s the wrong page material. Instead, let it keep thinner pages safe.
Crafts
Chipboard is also a great choice to serve as a stand-alone star in your craft projects.
It’s a popular choice for framing photos because it looks professional and tidy, cuts well despite its thickness, and can help protect photos from bending and tearing.
It’s also a popular choice as a base material for rubber stamping and painting. Unlike cardstock, which is thinner and bends more easily, chipboard can absorb more ink and paint without warping the material.
Some crafers even opt to cut chipboard into various shapes to provide embellishments on other crafts, from scrapbook pages to photos to other types of artwork.
Again, the uses for chipboard are only limited by your imagination and willingness to try new things.
Chipboard Vs Cardstock
We’ve made several references to chipboard and cardstock, so it’s worth taking a moment to understand the difference between the two.
Thick cardstock can be quite a lot like chipboard, and it can be used for some of the same purposes, such as labels, homemade boxes, and business cards. That said, the two materials are fundamentally different, which helps explain the disparity in their thickness and durability.
Cardstock is paper, though it can be very thick. Chipboard is essentially thin cardboard. This means chipboard is usually thicker and much hardier than ordinary cardstock, even unusually thick cardstock.
Ready to Buy Chipboard?
We know that when it comes to your biggest crafting projects, you should never settle for less than the best. After all, you’re creating something that you want to last for years to come–and still look good all those years later.
That’s why we’re proud to offer high-quality chipboard at prices that work for almost any budget. And with all the product options in our shop, you’re guaranteed to find the right chipboard for your next project.
Ready to start your next project? Check out our chipboard offerings today, and let us know how you put our chipboard to use!