I'm wanting to get into paper patching, and I've read the stickys, but I'm having trouble deciding on what paper to use. The general consensus seems to be that 16lb green bar printer paper is the best place to start. The problem is that I can't really find any. I found some 15lb and 18lb, but most of it is 20lb. There's also the issue of the stuff only being available in 3000 sheet boxes that cost $100. I don't want to spend that much just to try out paper patching.
Mead tracing paper seemed to also be a popular choice, and it's cheap. It's also unavailable at my Walmart and it's not on Amazon. There's other tracing papers though. Mead doesn't list what weight paper their stuff is other than that it's "medium weight". There's other brands of tracing paper on Amazon like Strathmore (25lb) and Bachmore (32lb). Would those work, or are they going to be too heavy?
Alternatively, there's drafting/design vellum which is 100% cotton 16lb paper. Would that be better?
Finally, what about just standard printer paper? Is there any reason I couldn't jut grab a couple sheets of that and get to patching?