6 Collagraph: Test printing + creating plates for resolved work

18 June

Part One: Test printing initial collagraph plates

I spent studio time over a couple of weeks testing some of my plate experiments to play around with colour application/mixing and wiping back methods to produce a variety of textures and tones, as well as ghost printing and rolling up my plates to print in relief.

First test print

I inked up three of my experimental plates and arranged them to be aligned and printed on the one sheet. I mixed a burgundy with red, black plus a touch of phthalo green, plus a dark green with phthalo green, black with a little more blue added.

The plate to the right is PVA glue drawn directly onto card with the nozzle of the glue bottle, left thick too dry. I wiped back gently to allow a lot of ink to stay in the grooves, then wiped back by twisting the tarlatan to created the ripple like/radiant texture.

The result of my beeswax plate. I like the almost industrial feel of the texture and scratchiness of wiping back.

Leaf test plate - I really like the result of scratching back into partially dried glue, something I want to use in the final work.

Roll up for relief

I borrowed a pink someone had mixed up and rolled up my plates to test out a relief with ghost print.

Ghost/relief print

Pretty intrigued by the layering effects with subtle textural remnants of the plates inked intaglio with the relief on top. Would like to explore this in my final work also.

Another test plate - I’d made this one with glue painting, collaging scraps of textured paper, then drawing glue from the nozzle to replicate tree bark. Here I test printed in relief (previous test as a blind emboss and intaglio, no photos though).

Lopped tree

I cut this tree shape out of thin card, painted glue as a base texture and let dry. I then added more glue and scraped back some for texture. Inked with prussian blue. I printed it over two pieces of paper as it’s all i had left for the day and made a split decision to offset the paper.

This experiment informed the development of my concepts for the final work.

A few more tests prints of my plant materials glued to card.

Part Two: Refining my concepts for the final work and playing with composition

After producing my small tree print the prior week, I began sketching compositions in my sketchbook, thinking about other ways to print a large scale version across multiple pieces of paper. My idea for the final prints was a night scene of deforested land with a lopped tree, stumps in the background and bogong moths flying through the scene - I wanted to capture my feelings about the environment and my concern for threatened native species and ecosystem collapse.

For me, the endangered bogong moth is a symbol for such loss. They are a night-flying moth, migrating to NSW/Vic alpine regions in the spring/summer where they are a major food source for the mountain pygmy possum, also an endangered species - the flow on effects of loss are represented by their connection. The dead trees + stumps represent human impact on the environment - there’s also a haunting beauty in dead trees - they remain as monument to the life they once lived, become homes to other living things, and will eventually break down to become nutrients for other plant life to continue the cycle, so represent a semblance of hope.

Below are my final composition sketches and processes for making the final collagraph plates.

1/2 Composition for final collagraphs

My original plan was to collagraph the tree and moths and to monoprint the background afterward. I decided to keep my two sheets offset as per my small tree experiment.

1/2 Composition for final collagraphs

Starting my tree plate

I cut my tree out of a large piece of 2mm thick card, ensuring to trace the shape backwards to print as per my initial composition.

Creating texture

First I applied an undercoat of matte medium with a large, coarse brush and left to dry for subtle first layer of texture.

Glue painting

I then applied PVA haphazardly to the entire plate and brushed it around roughly with a toothbrush, deliberately leaving gaps and trying to emulate bark -like pattern and texture.

Layering of texture

I had a mostly empty tub of watercolour ground at home and thought it might make for an interesting way of creating more texture and dimension to my plates.

Watercolour ground

I painted the product on, thinner in some areas, thicker in others, then used the other end of the brush to scrape back into it before dry.

Scraping linework

Tree stump plates

Originally the two tree stump plates were attached to the large tree collagraph, but I decided to seperate them so I could either layer the printing or collage the seperate elements. I used the same techniques for creating texture on my plate here. I also collaged some pieces of textured handmade paper around the base of the large tree trunk to replicate the scaly, rough bark many eucalypts have at the base.

More glue drawing

Lastly, once my plates were dry, I used glue straight from the bottle to draw on lines between the grooves I’d scraped out in the water colour ground to create height for relief printing later on.

Bogong moth plates

I used the last scraps of a sample of fibre paste I’d been given to create a fluffy texture on the body of my moths - I painted it on and scraped back with the other end of my brush.

Wings

For their wings, I’d ironed some scrap plastic (between a tea towel) from a bunch of flowers to create a bubbled texture. I then thickly painted on watercolour ground and pressed the plastic into the wing, making sure the watercolour ground filled the bubbled areas. I let it set for a little while, then peeled off the plastic to leave the pattern behind.