Intaglio Reduction ink Printmaking: Collograph printing

28/02/2014

Blog entry 55:

Due to my wanting the experimentation process in this project to be extensive, I have now looked into printmaking, as I feel that as a hand rendered process, paint and print go hand in hand so to speak. I did an extensive amount of print in College but felt that it was not challenging enough, as I found it quite easy, at this level I realise that due to my 'natural' flair for certain areas, I should try to push this and see where it leads and what results I get.

My preferred printmaking processes are reduction ink, a process where ink is deposited onto a print plate and then rubbed off leaving a thin matte layer of ink on the plate - paper is then placed face down onto the plate and rolled over using a printing press. Reduction ink processes I will use are Drypoint and Collograph.

I have also created small emulsion print samples in my samples book as another printmaking consideration, I am fond of this process and have used it in the past to print book covers onto fabric for binding (shown below).

EMULSION PRINTED BOOK COVERS

All of these processes will be listed with their properties in my samples book.

I started my reduction ink printmaking with collograph printing: A collograph plate is made by cutting into and adding layers of textured material (e.g. textured wallpaper or dried leaves) onto a piece of mount board, a medium thickness of card, it is then primed with french polish to make the card withstand the moisture in the etching ink. This process is called collograph due to the making of the plate being very similar to collage. An important point to remember is that all reduction ink and many other printing processes will print backwards.

Aspects that can be added (or taken away) to card plate and their effects:
(All information found here is my own experience from specialising in printmaking at college)

• Creating thin lines by cutting into the card with a craft knife or scalpel - ink will fill the cut into area and will present as a line in print

• Cutting shapes into the first layer of card and peeling it away to reveal the softer (almost foam like material) which makes up the middle layer of the card - Because this area is softer, even after being primed with french polish, it will absorb more ink, so these areas present themselves as dark areas in print (cutting too deep into this area can result in the ink in these areas not making contact with the surface on which you are printing, which is often paper due to it gong through a press and leaving areas of unprinted surface)

• Using Carborundum (a specialist sand like material for use in print) - this specialist material is designed to give a very dark area of ink and will often if not always present itself as the darkest area in print (Carborundum can be scratched away from plate when applying ink and I have not used it on any of the plates in this blog entry)

• PVA Glue - Areas that have been treated with PVA glue are not affected by french polish and stop all ink from penetration the treated areas meaning that these will be the lightest or areas completely untouched by ink (if PVA is spread too thin, ink my still penetrate)

• Use of textured materials (stuck down with PVA glue) - These areas depending on the depth and type of texture will print as a backward inked version of that texture (if texture is too deep or in too much relief, then all areas of ink may not make contact with the surface on which you are printing) for this use of collograph I recommend materials which present texture in slight relief such as dried leaves/ pressed flowers, sand, textured or embossed wallpaper, etc.

I created a set of initial small plates and prints to help remind me of the properties and process which are listed I'm my Samples Book. I then created larger, more refined plates from the preferred methods used when creating samples. I have decided to only show the more refined prints on this blog because there us a vast number of prints and it would be difficult to show everything.

Scans of collograph prints and Plates created as a initial step back into printmaking:
(All artwork in this entry is mine and soul property of myself unless referenced otherwise)

Collograph plate 1 The Book Man's Aureola:

Print plate 1 The Book Man's Aureola

Print plate 1 The Book Man's Aureola

Print plate 1 The Book Man's Aureola

Print plate 1 The Book Man's Aureola

I have used sample NUM & NUM to inform this print plate, like sample NUM I have cut the plate into the shape of the hexagon and used cutting simple lines, peeled away areas of the top layer of the mount board and PVA glue to create different tones and an image. I have positioned the portrait to ensure that the shape of the plate itself will look like a halo or aureola surrounding the subject's head.

The Book Man's Aureola print 1/8 on cartridge paper:

Print 1/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 1/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 1/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 1/8  The Book Man's Aureola

This is the first print taken from the plate using Raw Umber etching ink with extender, as is apparent the tones and lines have printed backward as predicted. When taking this print the paper was a little too wet which meant that it stuck to the plate and was more difficult to remove without ripping.


The Book Man's Aureola print 2/8 on cartridge paper:

Print 2/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 2/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 2/8  The Book Man's Aureola

This print is the second print taken from the same set of ink which print 1/8 is taken from. Because the paper was too wet when printing the first print, areas of the paper stuck to the plate and affected the next prints, which is evident in the darker marks on the print that are not evident in the prior one.


The Book Man's Aureola print 3/8 on newsprint paper:

Print 3/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 3/8  The Book Man's Aureola

This print is the third print taken from the same set of ink as prints 1/8 & 2/8 on newsprint paper to get a print from the remaining ink on the plate. This print is much lighter and only really shows outlines and dark areas. Newsprint paper is usually used as protective paper that goes under the plate and on top of the paper face down on the plate to protect both the print and the press blankets when going through the press, but I use this paper to print on if I think the print will be more experimental or lighter.

The Book Man's Aureola print 4/8 (experimental) on newsprint paper:

Print 4/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 4/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 4/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 4/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 4/8  The Book Man's Aureola

I have created this print by layering two areas of folded over newsprint paper  to make two halves of the print and putting them back together in such a way that is visually odd. I am particularly fond of this print due to the odd fault line between the two halves of the print.

The Book Man's Aureola print 5/8 on Cartridge Paper:

Print 5/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 5/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 5/8  The Book Man's Aureola

I decided to use a red colour to suggest the crimson of the crimson hexagon in which the Book Man resides. 

The Book Man's Aureola print 6/8 on Cartridge Paper:

Print 6/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 6/8  The Book Man's Aureola

The Book Man's Aureola print 7/8 (experimental heavy ink) on Cartridge Paper:

Print 7/8  The Book Man's Aureola

this is a more experimental print spreading the ink expressively and whipping areas of the ink away to reveal part of the image. on this print I left too much ink which involved there being a longer drying time and the ink being pushed further than the constraints of the plate when going through the press.

The Book Man's Aureola print 8/8:

Print 8/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 8/8  The Book Man's Aureola

Print 8/8  The Book Man's Aureola

This is the second print taken from the same set of ink as prig 7/8, this print has worked better due to the access ink having been taken of the plate and the second print more clearly portraying what I intended: the ink is in chaotic marks surrounding an area of the face that has been properly revealed creating a focal point to the print.

Collograph plate 2 Babel Cherub:

Babel Cherub print 1/3:

print 1/3 Babel Cherub

print 1/3 Babel Cherub

print 1/3 Babel Cherub

print 1/3 Babel Cherub

print 1/3 Babel Cherub

print 1/3 Babel Cherub

This print design mixes the idea of the divine cherub form with the hexagonal shape described in The Library of Babel, the cherub also has androgynous characteristics such as pectoral muscles and a vagina (more on this subject in blog entry 33).

Babel Cherub print 2/3:

print 2/3 Babel Cherub

print 2/3 Babel Cherub

Babel Cherub print 3/3:

More experimental prints using collograph:

Experimental hexagon 1/1

This hexagonal outline was created from the back of The Book Man's Aureola, leaving an interesting hexagon.

The Book Man's Aureola and Babel Cherub combined

The Book Man's Aureola and Babel Cherub combined

The Book Man's Aureola and Babel Cherub combined

The Book Man's Aureola and Babel Cherub combined

The Book Man's Aureola and Babel Cherub combined

The Book Man's Aureola and Babel Cherub combined

This is a mixture of two print plates. I have done this by first printing the larger plate, The Book Man's Aureola and then printing The Babel Cherub plate over the already existing print. This means I can also use plates such as drypoint over a collograph print. 

Overall I am satisfied with the work I have produced through this printmaking session, next I intend to try a larger plate, made possible through the printmaking facilities available to me at university, which will be aluminium drypoint.