00:00Its structure, however, is very different to paper.
00:03Paper is fibrous, pith paper is honeycombed,
00:08and that means that the way that watercolour paint sits
00:13on the pith paper is very different.
00:15The paint doesn't sink into the pith paper
00:18as easily as it does ordinary paper.
00:21It sits on top to create, as you sometimes see,
00:25the three-dimensional effect that pith paper can create.
00:30Most of the paintings before the arrival of pith
00:35were on imported European paper,
00:38which was in short supply and very expensive.
00:42It was a Chinese invention to use something that was abundant,
00:47cheap, and created this three-dimensional effect
00:51as an alternative to very expensive Western paper.
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