This assignment is a little different because I’m going to submit physical work to my tutor. Nevertheless I’m going to include an assignment blog post, because I think the blog should be complete with all five assignments. It will hopefully also guide looking through the submitted materials.
Task 1 (Project 11): Collage test block
I made my first collage test block on an A3 sized cardboard. I glued simple household materials in the 16 fields:
upper row: rice / burlap scraps / sweets foil / woodcut scraps / sand / linocut scraps / cotton thread / pieces of rubber band / flat ribbon
lower row: metal pins / Quinoa grain / Black Tea / Rice paper for spring rolls / glass noodles / yellow lentils / rolled oates
I made prints on four different types of paper. For the assignment, I selected two of these. The first was printed by hand with a baren, on damp paper. I used plain white drawing paper. This print was executed as a plain relief print. I inked the plate thoroughly and tried to get as much ink on the paper as I possibly could. Using the hands, not the press, helped to transfer ink also from the more recessed areas of the plate.
The second print was printed with the press, on damp Arches Text Wove paper. Here I had the intention to try out an intaglio technique, and had wiped off much of the ink. I wanted to obtain an impression from the ink that remained in the recessed parts of the plate. This did not work out exactly as I had planned. It is actually more of a relief print with a lighter overall tone because the ink in the flatter areas had been iped away.
I did two additional prints from a collagraph plate I had made in 2012 using paper, strings and fabric. This time, I inked the plate with self-made dabbers. The plate size was a little smaller than A4. I printed on damp sulphite paper. The two-colour print in brown and blue looked quite interesting.
After these, I felt I needed more experimentation with collagraph and made four more plates using different materials.
First plate: Organza cloth, sandpaper, bandage and bristol board
The first print was made as a plain relief on dry rice paper. The second print was made as a relief print on damp sulphite paper, the plate wiped off after very thorough inking. Thus the ink got deeply into recessed areas and the cloth bandage held much more ink than the smooth bristol board. Consequently, tonal values are very different from the first print.
Second plate: Different kinds of tape with rough and smooth surfaces
Here I wanted to explore further the tonal effects of different surfaces, and the intaglio effects which had occurred on the edges of the bristol board. The first print was made as a plain relief print on dry, rough, medium weight paper. After some experimentation, I had made at an intaglio print that consistet almost exclusively of outlines. I overprinted it after re-inking the plate with dabbers in three colours, which created interesting transparency effects in the final print.
Third and fourth plate: Textured plates made with joint compound, textured with a plastic card vs a bamboo skewer.
I did various printing experiments with these plates. One technique I found most interesting was to create a coloured background layer by inking the plate with a dabber, then making one impression on dry paper to take off ink from the relief surface, and then re-ink the plate in black. The print from this plate would combine relief and intaglio effects and subtle colour mixing. Both prints were made on heavy-weight printmaking paper, and I consider them the most successful of my collagraph test prints. Actually the left print is larger than the right one, but the blog software does not let me adapt the image sizes accordingly.
Blog posts
Making a test collage block: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1199
Further experimentation with collagraph: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1243
Task 2 (Project 12): Collatype Collage prints
As my subject, I chose a group of geese on a pond. I worked from photographs I made during an out-of-town trip. From several sketches I chose the one that depicted the group of animals, because I liked how they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. I made the collagraph plate from stretched stockings (wavy water), acrylic modeling paste (geese bodies, background bushes), black tea (leaf textures) and cotton (geese necks).
Initial single-colour prints were a bit pale but after some experimenting, I achieved deep tone. Multi-colour printing was not easy either as I often got patchy areas which did not support the motif. The most successful print was one with a green background layer and black texture printed on top.
I also experimented with gray paper, printing white and black ink on top. They are quite interesting when looked at from close. I liked the one with white on top of black best. The ink layers create a slight 3D effect which is interesting. As an experiment, I made a final print with a coloured underprint from a perspex plate, then a single-colour black impression from the collagraph plate.
As a follow up, I did a series of abstract collagraphs. I experimented with printing colours and black, using masks, and printing reversed layers. I think these prints are good and I felt much more comfortable with abstract shapes as this permitted me to play around with effects without the need to create a representational image.
Finally, I went back to my geese sketches and made another collagraph plate, this time choosing the single goose sketch as a source. The plate was made from cotton bandage, rice noodles, acrylic modeling paste, and cotton cloth. The problem of differentiating figure and ground returned, and I tried to achieve the effect by using different colours and working with masks.
Blog posts
Collatype collage prints: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1355
Abstract collagraph: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1431
Figurative collagraph: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1488
Sketchbook work
During part 4, I continued to wirk in the A5 size ringbound sketchbook. Over the course of Part 4, my use of the sketchbook has changed from making neat sketches to being more experimental and trying out ideas as in a visual diary. I’m quite glad about this development and when I look through the sketchbook I think it’s now more exciting and contains nice surprises. The blog article presents the pages made during Part 4 with some comments about ideas and processes.
Sketchbook blog article: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1594
Reflection
When creating the plate I had assumed the textures were distinct enough to separate the geese from their background, but unfortunately this was not the case. So the prints turned out less well overall than I had hoped.
Checking my work against the assessment criteria
• Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills – materials, techniques, observational skills,
visual awareness, design and compositional skills
I think that my work for Part 4 is strong in approach and I have demonstrated technical skills when creating the plates. I also see some progress in print quality as I’m experimenting a lot until impressions are good, and begin to use quality paper. I’m less happy with the visual qualities of the outcome. I created appealing texture effects but was less able to combine these into producing strong figurative images.
• Quality of Outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent
manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas
I take a lot of effort into presenting my work and associated processes in the blog. Sometimes I think it is too time consuming and I’d better spend the time improving visual skills. But then again, blogging skills might become valuable when some day I’ll be presenting my work to a broader audience. I also hope that with time, I’ll become more efficient and to the point with less digression into purely descriptive content.
In his feedback for Assignment 3, my tutor recommended I’d take some time to reflect on my motivations and visual interests. I feel he’s right in pointing out something that’s missing or hidden in my reflective comments so far. Otherwise, if I’m able to set aside some time for it, I think I’m quite good at communicating ideas.
• Demonstration of Creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a
personal voice
I may be somewhat disappointed from the outcome of Part 4, but I think that I’ve made some progress on the creative side. For one, I discovered my sketchbook as a place where I can try out things. It is not yet related to actual coursework but I’m quite certain that ideas will begin to feed back into printmaking projects.
During Part 4, I also experimented with Suminagashi, Japanese water-based paper marbling. It was quite interesting because I likened it to printing of a coloured water surface. I described it in this post: http://ocaprintmaking1.blueconcretemoon.com/?p=1230
To the extent that I let myself explore ideas, I think there’s also more potential for developing personal interests and ultimately a personal voice. I’m very aware that I’m only at the beginning of a long journey but it feels like I’d made first steps towards the right direction.
• Context – reflection, research, critical thinking (learning log)
From the feedback on the last assignments I became aware that my blog does not reflect that I’m actually constantly researching and digesting visual information, because I do not write it down here. Since a few months, I spend about an hour daily sifting through various online resources, following up recommendations by fellow students or co-members of online printmaking groups. I’m going to revise my current practice and will see that I’ll include pointers to these little bits. It might make it easier to trace down my influences. On the other hand, there’s a real need to keep all the note-taking to a manageable level because otherwise I’ll end up with no time left for actual practice.