This is a short guide to tools and materials for traditional wet mounting, to see the full process in action try this video from the British Museum:
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Mounting: Materials
- Alum Powder: high grade fine alum powder. It is used to wash paintings and make mounting glues.
- Supporting Paper 托纸: in fact this is also Xuan paper. Since there are many types of Xuan papers, the type of supporting paper is up to the type of Xuan paper which is used for the painting.
- Glue: it is made with flour and alum. Also, in order to ward off mould etc, you can also add some antibiotic agent in the flour when making the glue.
- Silk fabrics, paper: these special fabrics or papers are used to decorate the mounting. These fabrics have two sides and you need to be careful to choose the outside of the fabric to mount. To be specific, theses fabrics are,
–- 锦 Jin: A special thick type of ‘silk’. In fact, this fabric is not pure silk. It is silk with polyester. Therefore, the price is very affordable too.
–- 绫 Ling: it is not as thick as Jin 锦. Normally the pattern is either clouds or animals. It is common to use plain colours of Ling. For example the colour can be white, beige, and light grey. Such fabric is very fragile. As a result of this, remember to avoid scratching it. When it is necessary, you can only gently remove the dust with duster.
–- 绢 Juan: it is thin and strong and it is mostly pure silk. Unlike other fabrics, either side of Juan silk can be ok for mounting.
–- 纸 Mounting Paper: traditionally, people used Pi paper to replace expensive special mounting paper. However, nowadays due to the production improvements, it is affordable to use special mounting papers. For normal paintings, you can choose normal machine made mounting papers; for valuable art works and ancient paintings, it is still recommended to use expensive handmade mounting papers.
Mounting: Tools
Table:
- Table height is up to the height of the person who is going to do the mounting work. In China the recommended table height is 80cm. In Europe and North America, the table may be higher.
- Table surface should be flat. The size of the table is up to the size of the painting which you plan to mount. However, normally the bigger the table is the better.
- Table Colour should be dark. In order to help detect the details, it is very important to make the table painted in dark colour so that it can create big colour contrast when mounting painting which is done on white paper. The popular colour for mounting table in China is dark red.
Mounting Wall:
The purpose of preparing a flat mounting wall is to hang painting. Therefore, as long as it is flat it is good. You can hang a piece of flat wood on flat wall in your house. Or, you can reuse a wooden door.
Palm Brush 棕刷（排刷）:
One big size palm brush and two small size palm brushes are needed. The big brush is used to apply water on painting; one small brush is used to apply glue while the other small brush is used to flatten the painting and get rid of the bubbles between papers by brushing the paper surface. It is very important to keep these brushes clean and dry.
The new palm brush should not be used directly to mount paintings. It needs special treatment. First boil the new palm brush in alkaline water to get rid of the chemicals on palm barks. Then use #4 sandpaper to polish the brush edge so that the brush would not break the painting during mounting.
Wool Brush 排笔:
This is a special wide wool brush made from 18 long-pointed wool brushes and used to apply mounting glue.
Before use it is recommended to rinse the new wool brush with alum water.
After use, as with any brush, remember to clean and dry the brush after using it.
Feather Duster:
The duster is used to get rid of the bubbles between papers and also clean duster, extra water drops. In China, the traditional feather duster is made of chicken feather. If this type of duster is not available, you can also find plastic duster easily in local supermarket.
Knives:
Several different shapes of knives are needed for mounting. Refer to the photos below.
Awl:
There are many awls available in market but a comfortable one specially made for mounting purpose might be difficult to find. Therefore, you can make one yourself at home. Find the largest size, of around 7 to 10 cm length, sewing needle you can find at home. Then use paper to wrap the needle carefully with glue till the size of the needle handle is comfortable for you.
Tweezers:
It is not used often. The main function of tweezers in mounting is to remove small any lint or hair.
Spatula 起子:
It is a blunt blade bamboo knife which is designed to help remove the painting from the mounting wall or mounting table. If you cannot find a proper one, you can also make one at home with a piece of fine bamboo and then polish the bamboo extremely well so that it would not break the painting.
Wooden Frame 尺板:
It is a long piece of wood tool with the same shape as ruler. The standard size is around 5 * 150 to 200 cm. The purpose of this tool is to help fold, cut, and stabilise the paper. Therefore, you can either make such tools at home or find similar tool in your local supermarket.
A piece of thin flat wood or plastic surface 裁板:
it is used to lay beneath the mounting paper/ silk when cutting the materials in order to protect the mounting table from being scratched.
Rolling Pin:
The popular size in China is 3 to 4 cm diameter, 66 cm length.
Smooth big stone 砑石:
In China people look for big size stone and polish on size of to make it flat. You can find such tool available in special Chinese art shops. However, according to inkston’s experience, it is not easy to find a proper one in market. Therefore, we would simply recommend you to use fine paperweight which you use for painting. If you are professional mounting craftsmen, we would still suggest you to make such stone yourself.
Wax:
Wax is used on the back size of the painting to protect the painting from moths and moulds and humidity. The popular wax used in China is a special white wax from SiChuan province 四川.
Strings, tapes, wood parts.
Besides materials listed above, there are also other small tools you might need for mounting.
Visit Mounting Accessories Shop
(free shipping) Mounting Paper – Thick Cotton Xuan (supporting painting heart) 100 Meters
This is a very heavy roll of 100 meters large size thick paper. We only supply 100 meters large rolls with wholesale price, including international shipping and taxes. The shipping weight is over 10kg. If you do not need such large quantity, you can also refer to our thin mounting backing paper. This paper is thin and strong. It is…
£94.92 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Cotton, Qing Tan, Rice Straw
Packaging: Roll
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 85 x 10,000 x 0.1 cm
Shipping size: 100 x 30 x 30 cm
Shipping weight: 10,000 g
Mounting Awl
Mounting Awl£1.51 (GBP)
£1.51 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Metal, Wood
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 12.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm
Product Weight: ,,
Mounting Brush
Note: please read the article about mounting, it is highly recommended to boil the brush and sandpaper the edge before use.
£6.78 – £8.29
Brand: inkston
Materials: palm tree barks
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Size: S, M, L
Mounting Paper – Thin (support painting heart) 76 * 144 cm
This is thin mounting paper. The size is 144 * 76 cm per sheet while a standard Si Chi (Chinese measurements of Xuan paper size) Xuan paper size is 138 * 69 cm. It is a perfect choice to mount painting heart. We will fold it to ship. It can be easily flattened with water and heat. You can iron…
£0.75 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Cotton, Qing Tan, Rice Straw
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 144 x 76 cm
Mounting Paper Tape
The paper tape is used to hide the mounting edges, especially when you add silk as a special decoration frame for your painting. It functions as an elegant decoration line. Price is for one roll of 50 meters. Sizes available: there are different widths. width 0.2cm and 0.3cm are suitable for painting heart. width 0.6cm is suitable for the backside…
£0.68 – £1.66
Brand: inkston
Materials: Resin, Xuan paper
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Beginners, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Mounting Silk
This is a customizable product: when you check out you can add notes or picture to let us know the colour/design you are interested in and we will source it for you.
£27.12 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Cotton, Polyester, Silk
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 940 x 85 cm
Mounting Spatula
This tool is made specially with fine bamboo. The blade is blunt. It is used to help lift and separate paper during mounting.
£3.77 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Bamboo
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 2.5 x 23 cm
Mounting String
Mounting String£6.03 (GBP)
£6.03 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Polyester
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 850 cm
Product Weight: ,,
Mounting Wool Brush
This is a special wide wool brush made from 18 long-pointed wool brushes and used to apply mounting glue.
£9.79 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Bamboo, Wool
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Mounting
Product Size: 9 x 10.5 x 0.7 cm
Product Weight: ,,
Wenzhou Pi Paper 皮纸
This is a roll of Mulberry paper 46cm wide and 25m long, this is suitable for painting and calligraphy in its own right and also for use as mounting paper for works on half width Xuan paper (eg 35cm wide, 135 long).
£13.56 (GBP)
Brand: inkston
Materials: Mulberry bark
Recommend to: Advanced Level, Beginners, Medium Level, Professionals
Suitable for: Calligraphy, Chinese Painting, Mounting
Product Size: 46 x 2,500 cm
Product Weight: 3200
* Reference: page 4 – 9, 图说中国书画装裱‘Chinese Mounting Guide with Photos’, Yan Gui Rong 严桂荣, Shanghai People’s Art Publishing House, edition 1, January, 2016.
#GuidesandAdvice #Mounting
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