Week 57: 14th – 20th October
I’ve been experimenting with more printmaking techniques to increase the repertoire of styles at my disposal and to see if more experimental processes can help me to generate new content within my work.
Collograph workshop
I’d seen a half day collagraph workshop advertised at the nearby Arthouse, so I decided to go along and try it out. This kind of printmaking can be quite laborious and messy, as opposed to my usual ‘clean’ processes of drawing and cutting. Otherwise known as mixed-media printmaking, collography is a versatile printmaking technique where collaged materials are attached to a base such as cardboard or metal to create a printing plate. This is then sealed with varnish before inking and transferring the image onto paper with an etching press.
Collaged materials can vary from textured wallpaper, to plants, string and lace. The plate can also be made using pasted media including PVA and resin. which creates different finishes on the paper. Due to the pressure of the etching press and the viscosity of the ink, the plate works best when there is not too much variation in the heights of the textures.
Relief and intaglio processes
Unlike the more photographic printing techniques, the collograph process lends itself to experimentation, creating editions variée (unique prints produced using the same plate). It also can be used to create both relief and intaglio prints.
Relief prints are produced by inking the plate with a hard roller on the surface of the print. An intaglio print, on the other hand, is produced in the opposite way, ‘that is by working inks into the recesses or incised areas of the plate and wiping ink away from the top surface. The image is printed under high pressure by forcing dampened paper into the plate’s surface and thus bringing the paper into contact with the ink. An intaglio print can therefore always be recognised by its embossed image surface.’
Test print
I didn’t have a particular idea of the image that I wanted to create, so I decided to cut round some of the patterns on the textured wallpaper to create a circular image on the plate. Due to the limited time span of the workshop, we weren’t able to varnish our plates, so after producing them we went straight on to inking them up. I chose red for the surface and blue for the recesses to create a bit of variety, although in hindsight, I might have stuck to one colour and then introduced additional colour with paint or collage.
After producing a number of images with my first plate, I had enough time to create another one.This time I opted for a more figurative image, that of a snake in a tree, to test the possibilities of producing more illustrative work, as opposed to abstract. This image seemed to work out well and it was easy to apply the different colours to the plate. Again, given more time, I would probably choose to create more graphical images and spend longer on constructing the plate.
Experimenting
However, for my first attempt at collograph I was impressed by the possibilities, and called into a DIY shop on the way home to collect some samples of textured wallpaper to try out more printmaking experiments. Given the nature of the process, the use of the plate is limited as it can quickly become flattened by the press. However, this can be mitigated by the use of digital reproduction such as giclee, or, for a more hand made feel, by reproducing the image using a screen printing process, so I’ll be using these methods to produce more images in my books and cards.
Further reading:
Collagraphs and Mixed Media Printmaking (Printmaking Handbook) by Brenda Hartill and Richard Clarke (2005)
Print with Collage & Stitch: Techniques for Mixed-Media Printmaking by Val Holmes (2012)
Hybrid Prints (Printmaking Handbooks) by Megan Fishpool (2009)
http://www.swanseaprintworkshop.org.uk/printmaking-process
