Happy March!

Today was the second day of a two-day workshop on Chine Colle, a collage-like technique that glues thin Asian paper to a print.  It was taught by Anna McKee, a visiting instructor from Seattle. Yesterday I was totally lost and came home discouraged and confused.  I spent two hours watching YouTube videos while we waited for our furniture to be delivered.  I also found some material to read on the technique so today I was ready and mentally in the game.  We were instructed to bring completed intaglio or relief prints so I decided to work with the photopolymer plates I made last year.  This plate is inked and ready to print.  It’s from a photo I took of boats in the harbor at Ilwaco, a place we visited on my birthday last October.

This print is simply some torn blue gampi paper with a little supplemental blue ink.  Chine colle is French for China and glue, so this is basically a technique that glues two papers together, an over simplistic explanation but I hope that makes sense.

I reprinted it again but this time covering the entire image with beige gampi paper.

I used kitakata paper for these two prints, a beige paper that produces this sepia effect.  Each piece is cut to the same size as the plate and then printed/glued on a rag cotton paper for support.  You would not believe how many Asian papers there are.  I can afford machine-made papers.  I cannot even begin to afford those made by hand.  It boggles my mind.

We were really overwhelmed by the bright blue pillows and have brought out our handwoven tapestry pillows for the loveseat.  Maybe it’s just a matter of getting used to their brightness so this is the arrangement one day later.  I love cobalt blue but after years of brown furniture I think I need to wean myself.