The Process of Chine-Collé

I have starting mounting the prints that I finished printing. I've spent the last few days measuring and tearing paper to size and preparing a damp pack. I've printed all my prints on a Japanese paper (Honen), which is a thin translucent paper and which allows me to arrange so many layers on the paper (in some cases on both sides). Now all the prints need to get mounted on a Western rag paper (Somerset) with an archival rice paste. The process is called Chine-Collé, (French for glueing Asian paper). Here is a video of the process, much sped up of course. In this video you see me place the dampened print on a blank copper plate as my print support. After blotting it, I brush the rice past evenly on the back. Now the paste has to dry with a blowdryer until it is just tacky and not wet. I take out a sheet of paper from the damp pack, which is just damp enough to reactivate the glue when I run paper and plate through the printing press. Voilá! While the printing process is always so messy and inky, this part of the process is hyper clean and precise. I love it all and this is one more step in the direction of finishing the prints. Now I have 30 more to go!