Have you ever heard of the printmaking technique "collagraph"? It was only fairly recently I discovered this fun and versatile technique and lately I have enjoyed spending some time getting to know it better.
So what is it? Collagraph is a fairly recent printmaking technique which involves building your own printmaking plate using all sorts of materials. The basic plates may start as a piece of card, you then build it up by attaching textures or you can cut recesses into it, or do both. Once you have built your plate you ink it up and wipe it back allowing the colour to settle into the desired areas before running it through an etching press to create your print.
I recently attended a two day collagraph workshop with printmaker Jenny McCabe, I love Jenny's work and was excited to see what I could learn. On day one we concentrated on how to make your plates. I managed to make four plates, all birds of course! My subjects included a couple of gannets, a capercaillie and a hawfinch, I aimed to include a range of finishes, some smooth and sleek and others rougher and more textured. Textures were created by applying PVA glue, tissue paper, masking tape and scratching or cutting into the plate, each of these will hold the ink differently and create a different tone.
The image below shows my plates after varnishing but before I cut them out from the background.
Day two was all about the printing, your first print allows you to see how the plate is working, do you need to add more textures or wipe away more ink? We then had time to make several prints from each plate, changing our approach perhaps by adding colour or wiping it back the ink in a different way.
Above are my prints from day two. I'm now hoping to put all this new learning into place and run off a few more prints from the plates I created and of course I have some ideas for a few brand new ones.
Above, another round of hawfinches completed so far...