{"671675":{"#nid":"671675","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Why Your Scissors Glide (or Don\u0027t) When You\u0027re Wrapping Presents","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn the hustle and bustle of the holidays, a moment of transcendence can happen as you wrap presents: scissors in hand, cutting a piece of wrapping paper from the roll, the blades hit their stride and slide from end to end.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhy is it sometimes the scissors glide, and other times the paper tears a dozen times? Christopher Luettgen says it all has to do with paper quality.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cGood wrapping paper is going to have a prettier surface. It may even have a textured surface, maybe embossed or more three dimensional,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/chris-luettgen\u0022\u003ELuettgen\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor of the practice with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/rbi\u0022\u003ERenewable Bioproducts Institute\u003C\/a\u003E and an expert on paper. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EHigh-quality wrapping paper is made from softwood pulp \u2014 in particular, the strongest pulp you could make is southern pine softwood. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThe really good paper starts with softwood fiber,\u201d he said. \u201cSoftwood kraft in particular \u2014\u0026nbsp;\u2018kraft\u2019 being an old German word for \u2018strong.\u2019 It\u2019s going to be stiffer and stronger in multiple directions. Then it gets coated so you get a nice clay coating on the surface, which will smooth the surface to get it beautifully printed. When you come across weak paper that wants to tear very easily, it is often made with mechanical fibers.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESo, if you want the glide, you want good paper. When might it be worth skimping on quality?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a big job, like you want to wrap a TV or a large game or something like that, you don\u2019t want to spend a lot of money on the high-end wrapping papers. It\u2019s going to get torn up pretty fast. That\u2019s when you might go with a cheaper, thinner brand.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EOf course, as Luettgen notes, you can\u2019t tear the paper in the store, but looking for a thicker paper is a good start. The thicker paper will also give your presents a more refined look under the tree.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cLet\u2019s say you\u2019re giving a book to somebody. You want nice tight corners. You want good creasing. You really want to make it showy.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhy, then, does Santa sometimes not wrap his presents? Luettgen believes it\u2019s all a matter of resources leading up to Christmas Eve.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cIf he has enough help at his studio, I would think that he\u2019s going to get all of your presents wrapped. But if he\u2019s rushed, with bad weather for instance, he may have to come down the chimney with the presents unwrapped, but they\u2019ll be under the tree.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhy is it sometimes the scissors glide, and other times the paper tears a dozen times? Christopher Luetggen says it all has to do with paper quality.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Why is it sometimes the scissors glide, and other times the paper tears a dozen times? Christopher Luetggen says it all has to do with paper quality."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2023-12-21 03:15:37","changed_gmt":"2024-01-08 21:50:03","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672635":{"id":"672635","type":"image","title":"Wrapping Presents","body":"\u003Cp\u003EWrapping Presents\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1703129096","gmt_created":"2023-12-21 03:24:56","changed":"1703129136","gmt_changed":"2023-12-21 03:25:36","alt":"Wrapping Presents","file":{"fid":"255910","name":"wrappingpresents.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/20\/wrappingpresents.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/20\/wrappingpresents.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1416982,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/20\/wrappingpresents.jpg?itok=uItqzMzt"}},"672639":{"id":"672639","type":"video","title":"Why Your Scissors Glide (or Don\u0027t) When Wrapping Presents","body":null,"created":"1703181040","gmt_created":"2023-12-21 17:50:40","changed":"1703181040","gmt_changed":"2023-12-21 17:50:40","video":{"youtube_id":"JwDmNfXSMgI","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JwDmNfXSMgI"}}},"media_ids":["672635","672639"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JwDmNfXSMgI","title":"VIDEO: Why Your Scissors Glide (or Don\u0027t) When Wrapping Presents "},{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/rbi","title":"Renewable Bioproducts Institute"},{"url":"https:\/\/chbe.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}