Creating four different printing plates

From Wenniger, I took up the suggestion of using Masonite boards rather than cardboard, because it was said to resist warping. I used a leftover Masonite board from an Ikea drawer. I cut it in two pieces about 30 x 40 cm with a utility knife, then cleaned the rough edges with a file. I used joint compound to fill the porous backside and then applied several layers of slightly diluted PVA glue. When the plates were dry, I went on to make two different designs.

The first plate got a layer of thin, organza-like table cloth that covered the entire plate. I glued torn stripes of sandpaper to the lower edge, then cut pieces of bandage and bristol board. These were glued in the center area. All the materials were chosen to have very different absorption properties. I wanted to try out how these different surfaces would print and whether they’d translate into different gray tones. I also wanted to try whether I could get some intaglio effects.

For the second plate, I used tape with different surfaces from rough painter’s tape, to medium-smooth artist and construction tapes, to very smooth Duct tape. The idea was similar to the first plate, try and see how the surfaces would translate into tonal values and whether intaglio was possible with these materials.

Then I proceeded to the textured surface plates. The course materials suggested poly-filler on cardboard, which I didn’t have. I used joint compound instead, which is used to work over drywalls to obtain smooth joints. I made two plates, one about 20 x 40 cm and the other somewhat smaller, like 20 x 25 cm. For the first plate I used the edges of a plastic card to incise a linear pattern. For the second, I applied a bamboo skewer and made a variety of different marks and textures. After the two plates had dried, I sealed them with shellac.

 Plate 1: Collagraph from fabrics and paper

I made a first print as a plain relief. Black Akua Intaglio ink was applied on the plate with a roller. The plate was printed on dry rice paper using the printing press. The print came out nicely and the different textures had somewhat differeing tonal values. The Bristol board came out darkest (the rectangles in the middle). The sandpaper (lower edge) didn’t print very well. The organza (background) came out with an interesting texture that resulted from air bubbles which I wasn’t able to flatten during glueing, despite trying hard. Looking from close, the texture of the materials had been well transferred onto the paper.

Next, I wanted to try whether the plate was printable as an intaglio. First I inked the entire plate using a brush to get the ink into all the crevices. Then I took a first print on dampened sulphite paper to take off the surface ink. This print came out really wonderfully, with all the materials creating different textures and tonal values. The Bristol board surfaces were relatively light because I had distributed their ink into the other areas. The sandpaper in the lower area came off much better. The white lines around most of the shapes indicated that the ink in these crevices was still on the plate and might be transferred in the next step, the intaglio.

So I went on to wipe clean the plate. I used tarlatan for this. The organza was wiped easily, but the bandage was a very resistant surface and despite being a soft cloth, tore the tarlatan. The sandpaper wiped off easily, probably because of the layers of PVA glue I had applied before sealing. The print was made on dampened sulphite paper as well. Overall, it showed me that the plate wasn’t that good for intaglio as well. But there are very few areas where the pure intaglio worked: The left and upper edges of the Bristol board in the center and to the right. I’m not sure whether the bandages printed as intaglio or relief. From the organza, ink trapped in the air buble areas printed a strange pattern.

The result may not have been what I wanted in terms of intaglio, but I found it interesting to see the different effects that were possible just from varying how the ink was applied and wiped off the plate.

Next I wanted to experiment with colour on the plate. I had been researching Japanese woodcut printmaking (Mokuhanga) and had read that these prints were made with water-based colours and rice paste. I found this interesting and was curious whether the method would work with collagraph. Following a recipe I found on the web, I cooked a light flour paste, and prepared some student grade watercolours in tubes. Basically, I tried to follow the method with which the woodcuts are made: First the woodblock is dampened with water, then a few drops of paint and a drop of paste is applied. Paste and colour are mixed with a brush on the block. Then dampened rice paper is placed on top of the block. Another protective paper sheet is put on top, then the paper is burnished with a baren. The circular movements of the baren push the paste and the pigment into the fibers of the paper and create solid areas of colour.

For my coloured prints off the collagraph plate. I followed this procedure and inked the areas with different surfaces one at a time, printed, then went to the next surface. The first print was made on sulphite paper. I soaked it in the tub and dampeded it over sheets of blotting paper, using kitchen towels to drain off excess water and obtain damped paper suitable for printing. I improvised a registration method by placing the inked plate onto a registration sheet and folding the printmaking paper over the plate for printing, then folding it back to do the next inking. The second coloured print was made on dampened rice paper using the same method of registration and colourwise inking.

All the prints are around A2 size. The ink on the dampened rice paper bleeded a little, the contours of the shapes are less crisp and the surface textures didn’t transfer much. Instead, the marks are mostly my brushmarks from the inking process. The colouring method felt a bit like monoprinting and it would probably be difficult to achieve consistent effects over a series of several prints.

I liked this series of experimentation, but felt a bit like working into the blue because I had no clear image idea in mind. The value of this series lies in trying out a new process. I hope that I can later build on these experiences.

Plate 2: Collagraph from different kinds of tape

On the prints from from the first plate, I saw that around the edges of the paper bits had happened some intaglio effects, so I expected this second plate to create more of it because of the paper-like relief elements from the different kinds of tape. I made a first print on dry, rough, medium weight drawing paper as a plain relief print, inking the plate with a brayer.

Then I wanted to try whether I could produce an intaglio print. I re-inked the plate with a brush to get ink into all the small spots and crevices between the elevated tape areas. Then I took an impression on dry paper to take off the ink from the relief (rather than wiping it all into some tarlatan). The print looked similar to the first one, but there was still so much ink on the plate that I took another one on dry rice paper. I wiped the plate with tarlatan and finally took an intaglio print on dampened paper. I used Arches text wove here, which took on the ink nicely. The shapes I created with the tape transferred nicely and there was also a bit of tonal difference due to the different roughness of the tapes, which held back the ink to a different degree. This was the effect I had wanted to explore when choosing the tapes.

Then I took up the suggestion in the course materials and re-inked the plate with my dabbers, using a blueish red, blue and yellow Akua liquid pigment. The inks mixed on the surface when I applied them onto the overlapping shapes. I did not clean the plate from the black remainders before inking. I printed on damp paper (medium weight drawing paper) with the press.

I quite like the effect of the irregular colour and the transparency effect with the shapes. Looking at it now, it reminds me of a painting I made about 30 years ago. I’m including it here to have a look at the correspondence. It’s strange how the visual effect of “transparent shapes in blue and green” had reappeared, through some unconscious forces maybe.

I took another print from the plate on damp rice paper to take off the remaining ink, but apparently most of the ink had already been transferred. So the ghost print is really only a ghost of the first pull. I always find it quite interesting how differently the ghost print comes out, and use it to learn about the properties of my inks. Conclusion: Akua liquid pigment transfers well onto damp paper, leaving not much on the plate.

Plate 3: First textured surface made with joint compound

After a day’s break and some Suminagashi experimentation (see blog post http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1230), I got back to my plates. I was curious whether I could use Suminagashi to create an interesting background pattern, then print on top. I was also curious whether Akua liquid pigment might work as a Suminagashi ink. So as a first step, I tested the liquid pigment on small sheets. The first one tore as I accidentally used a piece of the weak rice paper (rather than the better stuff off the roll), but the second and third attempt using Arches text wove worked.

The next problem was that I did not want to extend the Suminagashi pattern over the entire printing paper, but rather to be only in the area which I’d later overprint. My solution was to cut a paper frame which I would place onto the water, before putting my printmaking sheet on top. I had also improved my setting and moved the large soaking tray between the two sinks in the bathroom, so I could fill it (and later empty it) easily. The picture shows the frame already placed onto the suminagashi pattern. I had used red and brown Akua liquid pigment. The pattern is hardly visible on the photo and was indeed quite pale on the paper as well. The right picture shows how it looked on the rice paper before I printed on top.

To try out my plate, I made a first plain relief print on dry rice paper, and a second from the same plate without re-inking on dampened rice paper. For the first print I used the press, for the second only my hand pressure, not even a baren. The plate was inked with Akua black intaglio ink, using the brayer.

Then I re-inked the plate briefly and printed on top of the Suminagashi print on the rice paper, which was still damp. The pattern can only be seen from close, because the inks came out too pale. I re-inked the plate and made another Suminagashi try, this time using blue and red inks and trying to get them more concentrated. The pattern transferred slightly better, but still a bit pale. The printed sheets are around A2 size.

The frame I had used looked interesting, but overall, the Suminagashi experiments didn’t convince me, so I decided to continue working with the plates alone and try to explore other colour effects.

First I printed a ghost from the plate as it was, on dry paper but using the press. I then re-inked the plate with brown intaglio ink. My idea was to retain black ink in the crevices and add brown ink on the relief. But already when inking the plate I realized this wouldn’t work because there had been too much ink left on the relief which mixed with the brown ink. Nevertheless the resulting print in two colours on dry paper looked interesting. The second colour gave it kind of depth.

But then I took another print from the plate (without re-inking). It was made on damp paper (medium weight Blick all media paper, using the smooth side) with the press. With the damp paper, much more ink was transferred. Correspondingly, much more of the surface qualities was included in the image. From close, the effect is almost three-dimensional. I realized that the previous prints were much less interesting and that I preferred how it looks when the plate made full contact with the paper.

I re-inked the plate with purple red Akua liquid pigment on top of the remaining black intaglio ink. I had a vague idea that a viscosity effect might occur, but no clear concept how to exploit it. I printed on damp paper and received another print I liked because of the stronger surface texture effects. Then I re-inked the plate with purple red and yellow Akua liquid pigment to add more interest through the additional colour, again printed on damp paper. This time I added a second blanket and adjusted the pressure of the press.

From close, the texture effects are interesting, but in the miniatures the ink looks a little blotchy. It was indeed hard to see which areas of the plate I had sufficiently inked and which I had forgotten, because the inks are relatively transparent and the brush works only on a small area at a time. Maybe a foam roller gets the inking more evenly, but then it soaks up so much ink which is a disadvantage.

Then I wanted to further explore the viscosity effect which might happen between the liquid pigment and the intaglio ink. The evening before I had read the explanation in Clare Ross and John Romano’s printmaking book: If viscuous ink was applied first as a relief, then a second layer of stiff ink would be rejected from the relief surface, but sink into the deeper layers of the plate for an intaglio effect.

I tried to exploit this the other way round: I inked my plate with Akua liquid pigment in purple red and yellow, using a brush to get it also in the crevices. Then I pulled a print on dry paper with the idea of taking off the ink from the relief, but leaving it in the crevices. Then I re-inked the plate with black intaglio ink (stiff) and a brayer, expecting it would stay out of the crevices because the liquid ink rejected it. In theory, I would get a bit of an intaglio effect in purple and yellow, and the relief would print as a black.

The first print was made on dry sulfite paper, and it actually served just to take off the relief ink and so I didn’t have high expectations. It’s similar to the other relief prints on dry paper and I found them not very interesting compared to the richer inks on damp paper.

But for the second print I had prepared dampened Rives Heavyweight. I don’t remember to have used really good printmaking paper before, so was quite curious whether the good paper would support the overall impression of that print. This is how the print came out:

The yellow had mixed into the purple and earlier brown and had completely disappeared as separate colour, but I found the print overall very good. My reversed viscosity effect had indeed produced a kind of coloured background with black marks on top. But due to the irregularity of the surface and the way I had inked the plate, the black ink had also gone onto the lower areas of the plate and mixed into the colours. I think this is quite a successful print and it looks wonderful on the chosen paper.

Plate 4: Second textured surface made with joint compound

So finally I came to the fourth plate, made in the same way as the previous one but with different instruments to texture the surface. To get to know the plate, I made a first plain relief print using Akua black intaglio, applied with a brayer onto the plate, then printed on damp paper. I chose the medium weight drawing paper for this.

I wanted to make a corresponding print to the final one of the previous series. I cleaned the plate from the black intaglio ink and re-inked it with yellow and green Akua liquid pigment, making sure I get ink evenly distributed into the lower areas and crevices as well. Then I took a plain relief print on dry paper, which looked a bit pale, but I had expected this.

I re-inked the plate with black Akua intaglio using the brayer, and then made the print onto damp Rives Heavyweight paper.

I think the print looks really interesting. The plate has very deep marks which I couldn’t realistically expect to be filled with ink as an intaglio. But the black ink stuck to the borders of these crevices and created contour lines, whereas the coloured ink transferred from the lower areas of the surface onto the paper. The overall effect corresponds really well to the other print made in the same technique.

Finally I tried another approach using multiple colours. I applied green, yellow and blue liquid pigment with a brush, then took a print on damp drawing paper. The print came out nicely. The subsequent ghost print on damp rice paper confirmed my earlier observation: Liquid pigment transfers so well that almost nothing remains on the plate from which to create another print.

Concluding reflections

I undertook this extended experimentation series on Collagraph printing because I found the course brief a bit short and wanted to get more hands-on experience with the technique. The first two plates explored different ink-retaining surfaces and experimented a bit with relief and intaglio possibilities. I made a brief excursion into Suminagashi and combined it with textured surface overprint. I also explored printing from a textured surface using multiple colours and experimenting with viscosity effects.

I produced a lot of prints and feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of what can be done with collagraph! I encountered some practical problems:

– The PVA glue I used at first remained sticky even after it had dried for several days. It would glue to the damp paper, and the solution was to seal the plates it with shellac.

– Subsequently, I used Elmer’s Glue, which is also PVA, but dries in a day and then it’s no longer sticky. I sealed the cardboard back of the textured surface plates with it. The surface itself had been sealed with shellac. The plates worked well during printing, but when I cleaned them later with soapy water, the back got wet and became sticky again. So probably the best is to seal everything with some final layers of shellac.

– The collagraph plates bend after drying. I was reluctant to run them through the press and feared they might break, but luckily they didn’t. Rather, after a few runs throught the press, they were perfectly flat again. The problem was with the edges of the textured surface plates, as they began to crumble. I guess this was because they were somewhat irregular at the edges. I don’t know how I could prevent this in a hand made process where I just eyeballed the thickness of my joint compound layer. If I’m going to print again with the plates, the edges need some additional sealing because otherwise the edges will continue to crumble away. But either way, the life expectancy of the textured plates is limited, there are fine cracks everywhere which makes them look like ancient porcelaine. Actually the plates themselves are quite attractive!

I think this series of experiments resulted in interesting prints and provided me with some experience on which to build in the next project. I’m glad I took the time for some extra work.

Suminagashi is a water-based marbling technique. The difference to other marbling techniques is that inks are put on plain water, no thickening agent is used. The ink stays on the surface because of the water’s surface tension and a hydrophobic effect between water and inks. Little drops of ink are placed on the surface with a brush and distribute themselves over the area. Interesting patterns can be created by bringing the water into soft motion, for example by wiggling with a skewer or by lightly blowing.

I was totally fascinated when I saw this demonstrated in an instructional video. From reading around in the web, I picked up that this was supposed to work with Chinese and India ink as well. So I went ahead with a first trial using my Student Grade India ink. Well, it didn’t work, the ink was too heavy and sank to the bottom immediately, rather than creating ink swirls on the water surface. With some more trial and error I finally got some ink stay on the surface. I then placed a piece of paper, about A6 size, onto the surface, let it soak briefly, then took it out. Unfortunately, it did not hold the patterns. The result was just an irregular brown wash on the paper. I took the sheet and played around a bit with the remaining ink from my brush, watching the ink disperse on the wet paper surface. This was interesting as well, but not what I intended. I had used some leftovers of a torn sheet of Arches Text Wove paper and later learned that the cauliflowers on this image happened because of the sizing of the paper. Good to know!

So I decided to order the ‘Suminagashi Marbling Ink Set’ and give it another try. While the inks were better at staying on the surface, the result on paper (Arches text wove again) didn’t work too well either. I switched to rice paper, and this time there was some progress, and I actually got some marbling effects transferred! The only problem was that the rice paper disintegrated when it got wet, and I had trouble getting the little sheets out of the water tray. The first two pieces came out with only minor damage to the borders, but the third paper which looked so promising tore apart. How annoying!

    
left: Arches text wove, A5: minimal marbling effect
right: Sumi-e rice paper: Marbling works better, but the paper tears when wet!

I had been printing a collagraph on rice paper from a paper roll before. I had even soaked it and got it out of the bath tub without tearing it apart. Probably that paper was of better quality. So I made another try with that paper, took a large piece off the role, tore it into A5 pieces which would fit into the tray, and made another series. This time, it worked. The paper didn’t tear and it took on the colours off the water surface with only minimal blurr. Over the series of 8 sheets, I began to get a feel for creating patterns and tried out different methods to combine different colours. The image shows the 8 sheets in the order I made them, starting with the left column downwards, then the right column downwards.

Here are some pictures I took from the process. I worked in the bathroom and had placed a little plastic tray between the sinks. The left image shows the inks on the water surface after I had finished dropping. The right image shows how it looked after I created some water movement to make the ink wander around. This was the surface from which I made the 6th sheet (2nd column, second sheet).

Since this worked quite nicely, I wanted to try larger sheets of paper. As a tray, I used a large plastic tablet. The first attempt was a rice paper sheet almost as large as the tray, about A2 format. the second was sulphite drawing paper somewhat smaller than A3.

With the larger size, the entire process became a bit awkward because I wasn’t able to carry the water-filled tray around. Instead placed the empty tray onto my work surface in the hall and went to the bathroom about 20 times to fill it with water glass-wise. Later I had to get the water out the same way. Next time I’ll certainly use a little bucket!

The large surface also had a diluting effect on the colours. I needed much more ink to obtain at least moderately intense colours. The inks were less intense on the sulfite paper. The colours look a bit strange, like food colouring, and the overall impression is a bit Kitsch. But overall, the entire process of making Suminagashi sheets was great fun. It’s almost meditational experience to sit quiet in front of the water, dropping ink and watching what happens on the water surface.

Suminagashi is quite similar to printing, because you take an impression of an inked surface! I think it’s quite cool, overall. I still need to find a better technique for getting the large sheets into the water without creating air bubbles, because these leed to white spots, as you can see in the middle of the large sheet. I also need a better method to get the large sheets out of the water, reducing a bit of smear from dark ink running over the sheet. Maybe the sheet must soak a little longer or a little shorter, I’ll have to experiment.

Possible impact

Besides having fun with Suminagashi, I was also reflecting how this might impact my printmaking. One aspect is certainly the different mindset that comes along with the technique. It’s exciting to observe the developing patterns on the water surface and to see how they come out on the paper. I’m not sure if it’s possible to create figurative images, nor if I would I want to. But creating interesting abstract patterns is nevertheless worthwhile for me.

Suminagashi might be combined with other printmaking techniques, using the marbled patterns as elements in a figurative composition. Maybe it’s possible to mask areas of the paper, so it gets only partially marbled. Or use cut-outs of Suminagashi sheets in a collage that also includes printed elements.

The broader impact might be seen in context of my recent research into Japanese woodcutting (Mokuhanga technique) and interest in finding out more about Japanese printmaking techniques. I don’t know where this might lead to but for now I think it’s good that I’m beginning to be more experimental and open-minded in my practice.

References

Suminagashi class at Center for Book Art, Manhattan http://centerforbookarts.org/event/suminagashi/

Blick instructional video https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84359240&v=J410yQ7PI1E&x-yt-ts=1421782837

Suminagashi ink set, avaiable from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Marbling-Kit-Japanese-Suminagashi/dp/B003W2PX8M/ref=pd_sim_ac_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CSM6T2PGEN723DHQADG

Suminagashi website with basic instructions, recommending Kodak Photo-Flo (as “surfectant” to add to the ink) http://suminagashi.com/

The collagraph was made on thick cardboard, roughly A3 size. The materials were attached with PVA glue by Guardy. I wasn’t very happy with the glue because it stayed extremely sticky even after 3 days of drying.

upper row: metal pins / Quinoa grain / Black Tea / Rice paper for spring rolls / glass noodles /  yellow lentils / rolled oates

lower row: rice / burlap band / sweets foil / woodcut scraps / sand / linocut scraps / cotton thread / pieces of rubber band / flat ribbon

The prints

The plate was first inked with a brayer to produce relief prints. Then I printed the collagraph on different types of paper. The larger sheets were printed by hand, the smaller sheets with the press. All prints are A2 or a little smaller.

1) A2 white drawing paper, printed on damp paper by hand using a baren (two prints)
2) white sulfite drawing paper, printed with the press

From my earlier reading on collagraph prints, I retained the idea of making intaglio prints by wiping off the ink from a fully inked plate. I was curious whether the technique would work with my plate, so went ahead, using a little brush to ink the entire plate. To not waste so much ink, I took a first proof from the fully inked plate, then wiped the ink off as thoroughly as I could with some tarlatan.Then I took a print which was supposed to be an intaglio print, but it turned out to be a relief print, just as the others.

3) White rice paper, printed on dry paper by hand with fingers and baren
4) Arches text wove paper, then printed on damp paper with the press

Some reflections

I was a little disappointed with the prints. The first thing I did not like was the instruction to glue the materials into designated rectangle areas. I know it’s supposed to be experimental and serves to develop knowledge about how different materials print as a relief, but I’d have preferred a looser approach with a free composition on the board which would have more visual appeal when printed. With the squares, it looks rather artificial and academic to me.

The second reason for disappointment was that the collagraph didn’t work as an intaglio. I thought that by using a press, I’d be able to make it work, but I guess the materials I glued on my board were too high. Probably intaglio will work with materials not thicker than half a millimeter or so.

Experimenting with colours

I wasn’t very curious about how the plate would print in a different colour, so decided to use another collagraph plate which I had made around 2 years ago. At the time, I did not have a press and wasn’t aware how I could successfully print by hand, so the one test print I made was with standard watersoluble ink and on dry paper, and it turned out very faint.

The plate had an interesting design created from various household materials, attached with PVA glue and then sealed with Shellac.

For this print, I wanted to use dabbers and went back to the instructions from the previous project. I made a dabber from a sponge which I cut into shape, plus some cotton buds to create a round top. This was wrapped in cloth and covered with PVC leather. I chose the PVC material because I anticipated that the Akua inks I’m using would be soaked up by cotton cloth. By contrast, the PVC leather is non-porous and I thought this would result in more ink transferred onto the plate.

For the first print, I used only brown ink. The plate was inked with a brayer first, but due to the heavy texture, not much ink was retained, and so I switched to the dabber. I fully inked the plate, with the idea that there would naturally remain lots of white space around the textures.

For the second print, I combined brown and blue ink. I started with brown for the center of the plate, then cleaned the dabber and applied blue to the outsides. The ink mixed a bit on the plate, which I expected to result in some interesting colour variations.

I printed with the press on dampened sulphite paper. Print size is between A2 and A3.

I’m finding the results somewhat more interesting, although I’m still a bit disappointed because it became clear that this plate wouldn’t work as an intaglio either. I had the idea of combining different colours using both relief and intaglio methods with the collagraph plates, but it was obvious that the plate wasn’t appropriate for that.

My first in-depth introduction to collagraph was through the Book “Collagraph Printmaking” by Mary Ann Wenniger, which I bought for the collagraph section of the printmaking course. The book dates back to 1975 and I have the paperback edition from 1980. It contains mostly black-and-white images which is a pity because it makes it difficult to follow the instructions when you cannot see the details in their true colours. Nevertheless it is a very inspirational book with many tipps and techniques.

I was just wondering why the course introduction seems to talk only about relief printing on a collagraph plate, whereas I think that intaglio printing and wiping away ink from the plate is what actually makes that technique exciting. Also the combination of intaglio and relief printing opens up many possibilities for experimentation with the technique. Maybe it’s introduced later in that part, but otherwise I guess I’m going to experiment on my own.

Another recent contact with collagraph printmaking was my visit to the exhibition of prints by Clare Romano and John Ross (Blog post http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=831). A large part of their prints were collagraphs and some were exhibited together with the plates from which they were printed. I was very impressed by the richness of texture and also by the sheer size of the prints, of which many were in formats at least A2 or around 50 x 60 cm, not counting the paper rim.

So I’ve actually a good general idea what collagraph is and how amazing the effects are that can be created by printing from textured plates. So I’ll just keep it at a brief image search as suggested in the research brief, as I’m eager to get onwards to gain some practical experience.

Looking closer at some interesting collagraphs

Laurie Rudlinger, Alcazaba (blue variant) is a citiscape with a somewhat Italian or medieval flair. I think it was made by combining relief and intaglio techniques: It looks as if the dark blue colour was used for the intaglio, whereas a lighter green was applied to print as relief. The stone-like textures were probably created by making incisions into a medium, whereas the textures of sky and the rocks in the foreground look less organized and might be made with a less controllable technique. http://www.laurierudling.co.uk/uploads/gallery/31-alcazaba-blue-variant-collagraph-980px.jpg

Mari French, Harvest Moon. Apparently inspired from a workshop she took with Laurie Rudlinger, Mari French created a collagraph with textural qualities resulting directly from the materials glued on the plate and their different ink-holding capacity. The print also seems to combine intaglio and relief techniques with colours blue and yellow. http://marifrench.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/harvestmoon2blog.jpg

The print by Julie Howe shows incorporation of plant material. In her blog she explains the print was experimental and made during a workshop. To me it looks as if only the intaglio technique was applied, but the blue ink has a broad tonal range and thus creates a variety of tonal values from light to dark. http://mycuriousteaparty.blogspot.com/2010/08/collagraph-lessons-at-cuckoo-farm.html

Inga Gorsvans-Buell published the print Aerial Abstraction, which is more colourful than the other collagraph examples I chose. This could have been made by inking the collagraph plate with multiple different colours and wiping part of it away, then printing in one go. I haven’t employed the Dabbing technique in the previous course part because it did not fit my printmaking ideas for linoprint, but I see lots of applications for it with collagraphs and will certainly experiment with it. http://ingagorsvans-buell.com/aerial-abstraction/

References

Mary Ann Wenniger (1980) Collagraph Printmaking, available from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Collagraph-Printmaking-Mary-Wenniger/dp/0823006662/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Exhibition visit: Prints by Clare Romano and John Ross at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=831