We have come a long way in the world of ink jet photo paper options. We now not only have a wide variety of photo papers available, but some of the really good ones come “double-sided”. This means you can choose to print on either side, or on both sides of the paper.

Why is this a good thing? Because there is no wrong side to print on. To determine which is the “good side” with traditional one-sided papers simply roll back one of the corners. If there’s coating on just one side, it’s usually whiter in color. You could still print text, in most cases, on the flip side, just don’t expect to see fantastic print resolution on the side not coated. Sometimes there’s a watermark on the back, mainly to tell you to print on the other side.

There are some advantages to using double sided paper. The first is obvious; you’re never wrong in picking which side is the right side up. More important though, if the paper is thick enough, and opaque enough, you can actually print on both sides of the paper.

Print on both sides of the paper comes in very handy in a few situations. For example, greeting cards- you may want to put colorful graphics and photos on one side (the outside) and nice text on the inside. Another time to use double sided paper is if you’re making a fold-out for journaling a section to a page. This gives both sides of the paper sharp, clear color or graphics.

Another excellent use for double sided paper is for printing digital scrapbook pages. You can eliminate extra pages, and bulk in your scrapbook, by printing on both sides. It’s especially great when you’re making scanned copies of your pages. You can quickly recreate an entire album, at half the thickness than your original album. You can scan 12”x12” pages as 8”x8” on 2 sided letter size scrapbook paper, and end up with a beautiful, yet smaller album, with photos as sharp and clear as the original.

There are a few 2 sided papers for making cards, or that you can use for journaling. Pay attention to the paper thickness if you plan to fold it: a thick paper will score nicely and hold up to repeated unfolding.