To create this monotype artwork, I used a photograph of a Mountain Blue Bird along with tinted Akua release agent and transferred to paper (Arches 88 printing paper) using a printing press. Prior to running the solar plate, I affixed a photograph (that has been printed on thin rice paper) to the blank printing paper. This process of inking over the attached image is called Chine collé (see below). Each piece is a one of kind print thus called a Monotype. Each print is hand signed and numbered 1/1. The artwork will arrive unframed in an acid free waterproof plastic envelope, either rolled and mailed in a tube or mailed flat. This depends on the Chine collé element.
As described by MoMA, Chine collé is a technique, used in conjunction with printmaking processes such as etching or lithography, that results in a two-layered paper support: a tissue-thin paper, cut to the size of the printing plate, and a larger, thicker support paper below. Both the tissue and the support sheet are placed on top of the inked plate store and run together through the printing press, sometimes with a thin layer of adhesive between them to reinforce the bond produced through the pressure of the press. The process creates a subtle, delicate backdrop to the printed image. Chine is the French word for China, referring to the fact that the thin paper originally used with this technique was imported from China. In addition to China, paper was also imported from India or Japan. Collé is the French word for "glued."
Product code: Original, No.48 Blue Bird, Monotype, Chine Colle, Image 8x10 on 11x15 store inches Arches 88 2020