I’ve done a lot of collage over the years. I’ve made a lot of prints over the years. I’ve never done any chine collé. It seems weird. So I set out to make some of my own paper with coffee filters, because why not. I used Dewent Inktense Watercolors and stuck to sunrise and sunset colors.

I went in to work a little early to gift myself some BIG press time. I set out to chine collé.

So first I inked up my tetrapak and I think I might try to make a video on how to do it. But the camera that I’m currently shooting  with is white and that just seems like a mistake.

Anyway. I inked up my plates and then set about to print.

When printing with intaglio style your paper has to be damp. I’m using Legion Stonehenge paper. It’s 100% cotton and 140lb. If I didn’t get it damp it would buckle and look pretty terrible.

Anyway, I use a spray bottle and spray BOTH sides of the paper with plain clean water until water runs off the paper and depending on time frame, place it into plastic or towels. If in towels the towels must also be dampened. If in plastic, I can use less water. I then let the paper sit for 15 minutes or so, this lets the water soften the paper well.

To set up the chine collé I layout where I want the print to be on plastic and then place the collage piece over it, color or image side down. I sprinkle methylcellulose (basically wallpaper paste) in a thin even layer over the collage piece. The collage piece can be dampened if needed. The printing paper is placed over the whole thing and then it is run through the press.

The results are magic.

I particularly like the play of the perfect round of the collaged piece with the broken up edges of the print. I really like both of these pieces.

And to think these little pieces were simple coffee filters.

It also makes me think about using used coffee filters. What would the tan of a used filter look like with the black of a print over it? Mhhmmm I bet it would look great.

Anyway here’s a video of the printing process.