7 Collagraph: Proofing + printing for the final work

Part One: Proofing the final plates on news print to explore colour mixing and ink application/removal

Prior to applying ink to any of my final plates, I decided to try a blind emboss of the tree, stumps and moths so I could keep my papers nice and clean. I spent some studio time after hours mixing intaglio ink to get various tones of blue, grey and charcoal using ratios of Prussian Blue, transparent white, white and carbon black. I chose to limit my colour palette to blue/grey to depict the Bogong Moths migrating as they do at night, and to express a feeling of melancholy in the final work.

Blind emboss

Did a blind emboss of the large tree plate across 2 offset sheets of 250 gsm rag paper prior to applying ink to the plates to get a nice, clean emboss. I’ve kept these sheets for later printing - may print inked up plate over the top of it.

Inking up for proofs

Mixed a light bluish-grey ink with white, transparent white, black and a touch of prussian blue - applying to some plates with a toothbrush for proofing.

Wiping back ink with tarlatan

Proof on newsprint

Ghost/roll up proof on newsprint

I mixed a charcoal colour (black, a little white and prussian blue) to do a roll up and test a ghost print with relief.

Laborious inking

Inking the upper section of my tree plate with a tooth brush (I ended up buying a nail brush to rub in the ink when printing the final collagraphs). Mixed white, transparent white and prussian blue here.

Proofing tree on news print

Had done minimal wiping back with tarlatan - I’ll wipe back ink on my final prints to try and create a bit of volume and lighting effect on my tree (wipe back more on one side of trunk, less on other). Loving how all my layers of texture are translating into print.

Roll up test on lower half

I rolled up the bottom half of the plate in my charcoal colour to see how it would print in relief.

Inking station

Ghost + relief print test

Rolled up over the areas inked intaglio to create a ghost print with the darker charcoal colour in relief.

Close up

The result

I was really happy with this proof - the layering of colour and the addition of darker details with the relief printing brings out the texture of my collagraph plate really well. I’ll be attempting to recreate this in my final prints.

Part Two: The scary part; printing on good paper

I had budgeted for four sheets of rag paper to produce prints to select from for my resolved work - so had two chances to pull decent prints - I also had a small stack of scrap papers to print my smaller elements on. I mixed up the colours first to match swatches I’d made when proofing a couple of days prior and rolled out some of the charcoal colour to ready it for when I’d print in relief. I was in the flow and concentrating on getting my plates inked and wiped back well, so lapsed in taking some photos of the process here. Results of my printing day are documented below.

Ghost print/relief

I printed several of the bogong moths - the intention was to collage them over the final installation of my collagraph. For this print, I rolled up the same colour for relief with ghost print.

Fading

I printed the bogong moths as a blind emboss first, then in 3-4 other colour ways, fading from darker to lighter.

Relief print off moth plates

The result - this is one of two lots of prints I got off my tree plate (didn’t take pictures of the other one which was ghost printed with relief and kept for the final installation). After a long discussion about installation and composition for the final work with Heather, I decided not to monoprint the background.

I put this work aside to test print over and layer other elements on top later on.

Having a think about how I would collage my elements over the top of the work.

Several printed elements - I made several prints of the stumps too in a couple of different colours.

Trialling printing over my prints

I inked up my tree plate again for relief, printed onto news print, then ghost printed the relief over the top of my tree print put aside for experimentation. I also inked up a couple of the stumps and moths to print simultaneously.

The effect of the overprinted tree, like a faded echo of itself, was something a really liked - however I did encounter an issue when removing my paper off the plate where the paper stuck to the plate and tore off in areas. It may have been my plate beginning to break down, or maybe the first layer of ink wasn’t completely dry yet.

Tore a hole right through - still love the print and may cut it up to use in collage later on.

Where my plate stuck to paper - hoping to re shellac and repair so I can try out other print experiments another time.

The upper half - If I were to print for this project again, I think I would execute my final work in a similar way instead of collaging seperate elements.

Cutting out the moths and stumps

Thinking about how I would assemble them with the final work - to stick them on with archival tape, pin them, or fold up their wings to look like they’re in motion.

Thinking about other ways of displaying the moths to create depth and dimension in work.

Pin together like this?