When planning your
packaging work it is
important to use card
sizes efficiently.

Place your finished NET in the context of a whole piece of paper and see how many more can be fitted around it.  Small additional pieces that are to be used elsewhere in the pack design can be taken from areas that remain in-between sections used by the NETS themselves.

On the table of card
that each 'reducing' size takes the measurement of its longest side from the preceding pieces shortest size.…Its other dimension is the previous piece's shortest side !!!

It sounds complicated but once you have seen the relationship you should be able to work out all the sizes from simply having to hand a piece of A4 paper.

The weight of paper is measured by the amount that a square metre weighs. This is a value given in grams per square metre (gsm).  Very light 'layout' paper is around 60 gsm whilst ordinary cheap photo-copy paper is about 80 gsm.  A thicker 'letter' quality paper has a noticeably different 'feel' when it is around the 90 ~ 100 gsm range.  Cartridge paper is around 120 ~ 150 gsm and obviously the heavier a paper is the thicker it is

Different papers can also have very different surface qualities.  Cheap paper will absorb ink and colour whilst those papers that are coated will seem cleaner and brighter. Pre printed paper on which an 'isometric grid' has been printed can be used beneath some of the thinner papers as a guide for drawing isometric sketches.  Coloured paper can be used to enliven projects by using it as framing - layers being added on top - perhaps with computer text or sketches.

Thicker board and card is sold in 'microns'.  This is a measurement usually in excess of around  100 or more microns.  One micron is actually 1/1000 of a millimetre so a hundred microns will be 1/10 mm.  A firm board might be 500 microns and so be half a millimetre thick. 

Art shops and design suppliers usually have 'swatches' of samples and if not then
make your own collection from collected packaging and measure the thickness
using the micrometer from the workshops.