Caroline Self - Chinese Brush Painting: A Hands-On Introduction to the Traditional Art

Mounting
Your
Paintings

The Purpose of Mounting

Oriental brush painting is done on thin rice paper that leaves puckers when the ink dries. The process of mounting or attaching the thin paper onto thicker, more substantial paper reinforces the thin paper and smooths out the puckers. It also helps to protect the paper against damage by insects, such as silverfish, who love rice paper for lunch. After a painting has been backed, you can put it in a mat or mount it as a hanging scroll.

Backing a Painting

The traditional way to back a painting is to use a paste like wallpaper paste. This method works fine with ink but does not work well with tempera paint because the paint tends to bleed out with the moisture from the paste. For this reason, it is better to mount your painting using a modern spray adhesive.

Materials Needed

All-purpose spray adhesive

A newspaper spread out to protect the table

A clean, dry, 34 brush to smooth out the wrinkles

A roll of backing paper with a different surface from the painting paper (you can get this where rice paper is sold), or else sheets of watercolor paper

Even up the edges of your painting if they are irregular.

Plan the size of the painting, and lay it down on the backing paper so you can add 12 beyond the painting. Remove your painting. Cut the backing paper with the extra 12 all around.

Spray the adhesive in a thin, even layer over the entire piece of backing paper .

Carefully lay the rice paper painting on top of the backing paper.

With the brush, gently stroke from the center of the painting outward to get rid of air bubbles and wrinkles. Use your finger to smooth out small wrinkles.

Let the adhesive dry overnight before moving the paper.

Matting a Painting

A mat is a cardboard frame around a picture. Pre-cut mats are available at art supply stores. The mat provides a structure and helps keep the paper and backing flat.

Attach the painting to the top inside of the mat with masking tape. Attach only the top, so that the paper can hang down with gravity and stretch. Do not attach the sides, as that can make the paper pucker.

To protect the back of the painting, tape a piece of thin tagboard to the top back of the mat.

If you protect your work this way, you can keep it for many years.

Making a Hanging Scroll

Another way to finish a painting is to make it into a hanging scroll, Chinese style, as shown on page 61.

Materials Needed

Two flat sticks, dowels, or half-round molding pieces for the top and bottom of the painting. The stick for the top should be 2 inches wider than the trimmed painting, so that it is 1 inch wider on each side. The stick for the bottom should be only as wide as the painting.

Household glue

Black cord or string to paint black. Use as much cord as necessary to hang the painting the desired height when attached to each end of the top stick.

Black tempera paint

Trim the backing paper around the painting so that the edges of the painting are neat and attractive.

Paint the top stick with black paint.

Paint the bottom stick with black paint.

If using string, paint the string black.

When the paint on the sticks is dry, glue the top stick to the top of the outside of the painting so that 1 inch extends beyond the painting on each side.

Glue the bottom stick to the bottom of the outside of the painting.

Tie the two ends of the cord or string together.

Loop the ends of the cord over the ends of the top stick.

Hang the scroll by hanging the cord on a hook on the wall. Hide the knot of the string behind one end of the top stick so that it will not show.

Finalizing Your Paintings

Mat or make a scroll of all your masterpieces, and keep them where you can enjoy seeing them.