Every printmaker who tries chine collé has a story about the one that went wrong: a crease through the image, edges that curl overnight, or a sheet of tissue that stays stuck to the plate instead of bonding to the print. Often, the problem isn't the press or the paste. It's the paper.
So, what is the best paper for chine collé? Thin Japanese papers made from long plant fibers, especially kozo, gampi and mitsumata, are among the most reliable choices. Look for paper that's lightweight (usually between 10 and 35 g/m²), strong enough to handle moisture, and smooth enough to capture fine detail from the plate. Kozo is a good starting point for beginners, gampi is excellent for fine detail, and mitsumata is the one to reach for when you want color.
The right chine collé paper also depends on your backing sheet, your adhesive and the look you're after. Below, we'll look at how each fiber behaves, how to match paper to your backing sheet, which adhesives work well, and how to avoid the problems that spoil good prints.
What Is Chine Collé, and What Does the Paper Do?
Chine collé (pronounced roughly "sheen ko-LAY") is a printmaking technique where a thin sheet of paper is printed and bonded to a heavier backing sheet in one pass through the press. The name comes from French: chine refers to the thin papers first imported from China, and collé means glued.
The thin paper does two jobs at once:
- It carries the image. A fine, smooth sheet pulls more detail from an etching or drypoint plate than many heavier printmaking papers.
- It adds color or tone. The chine collé sheet sits behind the printed image, giving you a background that differs from the surrounding border.
That second job is why the choice matters so much. You are not only choosing a printing surface. You are choosing a color, a level of translucency and a texture that sits in the middle of your finished work.
What Makes a Good Chine Collé Paper?
Thin enough to bond, strong enough when damp
Chine collé paper gets dampened, pasted, pressed and dried. A sheet that is too heavy will not bond evenly and tends to lift at the edges. Paper made from short wood pulp fibers can tear once it is wet. Long bast fibers from Japanese plants hold together when damp, which is exactly what this technique needs.
A surface that holds fine detail
If you work in drypoint or etching, look for a smooth surface. Rough or fuzzy sheets can leave gaps in fine lines, and loose surface fibers can lift off and stick to the inked plate.
Predictable movement
All paper expands when wet and shrinks as it dries. With chine collé, two papers moving at different rates are glued together. Knowing how your thin paper behaves helps you trim it to the right size and avoid wrinkles.
Chine Collé Paper by Fiber: Gampi, Kozo and Mitsumata
For a broader look at how these three fibers are grown and processed, read our guide to understanding Japanese paper fibers. Here we focus on how each one behaves in chine collé.
Gampi: smooth, translucent and a little demanding
Gampi paper has a crisp, smooth surface with a natural sheen and a translucency that lets the backing sheet glow through. It is excellent for fine line work and intaglio. The trade-off is that thin gampi tends to shrink when it is wetted and dried, so it rewards careful testing. It also costs more, because the plant grows mostly in the wild and is hard to cultivate.
Our gampi paper collection includes handmade sheets like HM-5 Gampi-shi and the Echizen Shikibu Color Gampi series, whose dyed colors work well as chine collé backgrounds.
Kozo: strong, forgiving and the best place to start
Kozo (Japanese mulberry) has the longest fibers of the three, which makes it strong and tolerant of handling when damp. Thin kozo tissues bond well and survive repeated dampening without falling apart, though they can show a little more fiber texture than gampi.
If you are new to the technique, start with a thin sheet from our kozo and kozo-mix papers.
Mitsumata: a soft surface that takes color well
Mitsumata has shorter fibers than kozo, giving it a fine, soft surface with a slight sheen. It takes dye beautifully, so it is a strong choice when color is the point. The Izumo Mingei Mitsumata Color Series (35 g/m²) is a good example, with a refined surface in a range of dyed tones.
Gampi vs kozo vs mitsumata at a glance
| Feature | Gampi | Kozo | Mitsumata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surface | Very smooth, natural sheen | Soft, visible fibers | Fine and soft, slight sheen |
| Translucency | High | Medium in thin sheets | Medium |
| Strength when damp | Strong | Very strong | Moderate |
| Ease of use | Takes practice | Most forgiving | Easy with gentle handling |
| Best for | Etching, drypoint, fine lines | Beginners, relief prints | Color layers, intaglio |
| Watch out for | Shrinkage, higher cost | Loose fibers on rough sheets | Tears if handled roughly when wet |
Matching Your Paper to the Backing Sheet
Translucency changes the color behind your image
A translucent sheet like thin gampi picks up the tone of the backing sheet beneath it. On warm white paper, a pale gampi reads as a soft glow. On a darker sheet, the same gampi may almost disappear, and uneven paste can show through as blotches. If your backing sheet is dark, choose a heavier or more opaque paper.
Natural tones versus dyed papers
Natural washi tones add a quiet warmth that suits most prints. Dyed papers let you use chine collé as a color layer, placing a block of blue sky or a red shape behind part of your image. Our Color Paper Series is a good place to build a palette.
Tip: Before committing to an edition, tear small scraps of two or three candidate papers, lay them on your backing sheet, and look at them in the light where the work will hang. Five minutes of this saves a lot of wasted paper.
Which Glue Works Best for Chine Collé?
There is no single right answer, but each option behaves differently:
- Wheat starch paste: the traditional choice. It is reversible, archival when made from pure starch, and bonds well under press pressure. It takes some practice to apply thinly and evenly.
- Methyl cellulose: easy to mix and store, gentle on thin papers, and common in print studios. It is a little weaker than starch paste, so good press pressure helps.
- PVA glue: strong and fast, but it grabs thin papers aggressively, which makes positioning tricky. It can also squeeze out at the edges and leave white marks where ink could not reach.
- Glue sticks and spray adhesive: convenient, but glue sticks can tear fragile sheets and leave dry patches, and spray adhesive often struggles on damp backing paper.
You will find paste and adhesives in our conservation materials.
The pre-pasted method: many printmakers brush paste onto their thin papers, let them dry, and store them like stamps. At printing time, a light dampening reactivates the paste. The catch is that you trim the paper dry, so allow for how much it will expand once damp.
How to Do Chine Collé: A Simple First Setup
For your first attempt, keep the materials simple:
- A small drypoint or linocut plate you already know prints well
- A thin kozo tissue, since it forgives mistakes
- Wheat starch paste or methyl cellulose and a soft brush
- Your usual printmaking paper as the backing sheet
- Blotters and a flat board for drying
Then work through these steps:
- Prepare the backing sheet. Dampen it as you normally would for printing and blot off surface water.
- Cut or tear the thin paper. Shape it to the area of the plate you want colored.
- Ink and wipe the plate. Clean the plate edges well so stray ink does not print on the backing sheet.
- Paste the thin paper. Brush a thin, even coat of paste on one side.
- Place it paste side up. Lay it on the inked plate so the paste faces the backing sheet.
- Print. Lay the damp backing sheet on top and run everything through the press.
- Dry flat. Place the print between blotters under a board so both papers dry at the same rate.
Pull a few test prints before you touch your good paper. Once you get a clean bond, try a gampi or a dyed sheet and notice how the result changes. A Hiromi Paper sample book is an inexpensive way to compare several papers side by side.
Common Chine Collé Problems and How to Fix Them
- Wrinkles after drying: the thin paper and backing sheet dried at different rates. Dampen both evenly and dry the print flat under weight.
- Edges lifting: too little paste at the edges, or paste that dried before printing. Work faster and make sure paste reaches right to the edge.
- White halos around the shape: paste squeezed out and blocked the ink. Use a thinner layer.
- Paper sticking to the plate: the sheet went down paste side down, or there was too much paste. Paste should always face the backing sheet.
- Fibers pulling off onto the plate: the surface has loose fibers. Print on the smoother side of the sheet or switch to gampi.
- Paste showing through: common with very thin paper on dark backing sheets. Use less paste or a more opaque sheet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is chine collé difficult?
Honestly, not as hard as it looks. The steps are simple, and most people pull a decent print within their first few tries. The tricky part is getting it right every time, because the amount of paste, how damp the paper is and how it dries all make a difference. Expect a few wobbly prints at the start. That is just part of learning.
Can you use regular tissue paper for chine collé?
For practice, sure. Plenty of printmakers play around with cheap wet strength tissue while they get the hang of it. Just keep in mind that everyday gift tissue is usually acidic and falls apart when wet, so the color can fade and the paper can yellow over time. For prints you want to keep or sell, an acid-free Japanese paper is the safer bet.
Can you do chine collé without a printing press?
Yes, especially with relief prints. If you work with linocuts or woodcuts, you can burnish by hand with a baren or even the back of a wooden spoon. The trick is firm, even pressure across the whole sheet. Etchings and drypoints are a different story. They really do need a press to push the paper into the lines of the plate.
What is the difference between chine collé and collage?
They sound alike, but they work differently. With collage, you glue pieces down as a separate step. With chine collé, the thin paper gets printed and stuck to the backing sheet at the same moment, under the pressure of the press. Because the printed lines run across both papers, the finished piece reads as one image rather than layers stuck on top.
What weight of paper is best for chine collé?
Most chine collé papers fall somewhere between about 10 and 35 g/m². The really thin ones, around 10 to 20 g/m², pick up the tiniest details and let your backing color glow through, but they are delicate and can shrink a little as they dry. Sheets closer to 30 or 35 g/m² are much easier to handle and a bit more opaque, which helps on darker backing paper. Not sure where to start? Somewhere in the 20 to 30 g/m² range is a comfortable middle ground.
Is chine collé paper the same as rice paper?
Usually not, even though you will often see it sold that way. Most chine collé paper is washi, a Japanese paper made from the inner bark of plants like kozo, gampi and mitsumata. There is no rice in it at all. The "rice paper" name just stuck in the West, and people still use it for almost any thin Asian paper. So if a tutorial tells you to grab some rice paper, a thin washi is what you really want.
Will a chine collé print last?
It can last a very long time if you choose your materials with care. Acid-free Japanese paper and a pure starch paste, like wheat starch, stay stable for years and can even be reversed by a conservator later if needed. The trouble usually comes from shortcuts. Gift tissue is often acidic and can fade or yellow, and wallpaper pastes and some craft glues contain additives that are not meant to last. If you plan to sell or exhibit your prints, it is worth spending a little more on the paper and paste.
Finding the Right Chine Collé Paper for Your Work
Good chine collé paper does not have to be complicated. Start with a thin kozo while you learn how paste and pressure behave. Move to gampi when you want finer detail, or mitsumata when you want color. Test on scraps, keep your paste thin, and always dry your prints flat.
If you would like to learn alongside other printmakers, our washi workshops cover techniques for every level.
And if you are not sure which sheet suits your plate, visit our Culver City store or send us a message. Our team works with printmakers every day and is always happy to help you choose.
