Collagraphs

Txstyle has asked for more details about the printing I posted about the other day. If you look here and here you will see the notes I made originally when I did the collagraph workshop. I should say that this is one method of making prints and that there are others. I am only beginning to explore this technique and have much more to do on it.

FME & Printing

I've still got some pics to post from Yorkshire and also from a day out this week but I just had to tell you!!! Woo hoo! I did some Free Machine Embroidery today!!!! Yay! Jumping up and down here in Lincolnshire doing the Happy Dance!!! LOL OK so it's not that big a deal but I've never managed to do it before and my friend and Saturday workshop leader showed me how today at our monthly workshop. Course, it may have helped that I had the correct foot on my sewing machine!

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Right, now don't get too excited, but I'll show you my first effort ever. No, I mean, really, don't get too excited!

It's a bit messy but I was just pleased that I managed to control the machine and move the fabric around and get the feel of the movement. I obviously need lots of practice but at least I've started.

A bit messy again but I wasn't following any lines. Just one question.........how do you get the dot on the "i"?

This morning, before the adventure with the sewing machine, I did some printing from collagraph plates which I have written about previously. I took prints onto cartridge paper, newsprint and cotton fabric. Now that I have made a start with FME I can try some stitching on the fabric prints.

Sample printing block above.

This is my messy work area with the inked block and a cotton fabric laid on top.

These prints were all on fabric, I think.

These prints were done onto newsprint and cotton fabric.

None of these prints is wonderful but I had a lot of fun and they can be added to with colour washes. Look out! Portions may be appearing on an ATC near you!

You may be wondering what materials I used to make the printing blocks. I used all sorts of things, nappy liner torn in strips, string, elastic(rubber) bands, wallpaper, pieces of plastic store cards, doillies, punchinella, polystyrene strips, tissue paper, coarse pumice texture paste, sliced cork, clingfilm (saran wrap), corrugated cardboard............ I particularly liked the texture given by the torn nappy liner and the pumice paste, and also by the polystyrene strips on the piece that looks vaguely like a seascape (well, that was the idea anyway!) :)

By the way.........I cheated with the FME...........the fossil shape was pre-printed on the fabric. I just had to follow the shape. Mwahahaha!

Collagraph correction & continued

Oops! Sorry, I should have said "thickening medium" not thickening paste.. The brand I have is Talens and it is designed to increase the viscosity and decrease the gloss of paint. I hope nobody's rushed in and had a disaster using paste. Eeek! That's what blogging with a tired brain does for you.

Thank you all for your comments yesterday - I feel humble that ladies with such experience and skill are learning from me! There were one or two points I could/should have mentioned:

1. You can paint the assembled printing block with pva, gel medium or gesso before you ink it up and this will change the textures but unify the surface, also the ink/paint will not be absorbed by the materials you are using.

2. The ideal paper to use for printing is paper without size - that is, absorbent paper like newsprint or sugar paper. Proper printing paper has no size. In my opinion you can experiment on many surfaces and see which results you prefer. I am sure that working in mixed media no approach is wrong - it's just what works for you.

3. A word about the thickening medium - it is horrible mixed with water, it goes all slimy, yuck! Clean up your printing plate by scraping with a palette knife and wiping off the residue with paper and finally using a damp cloth.

This picture shows one of my blocks "inked" up and the resulting print. I made the bluey coloured print first and then overprinted when it was dry in red. You can also mask off part of your print that you may not want to lose and overprint again.

This was the landscape plate. I think you can see that some of the materials used were quite thick.

And finally, from my sketchbook, this is my original failed attempt at collagraph. I like the textures on the plate so I will have another go using these techniques and see what I get. In this attempt I simple used paint without any additive and because the surface was uneven it only put the paint down where it touched the paper. Better luck next time I hope.

Printing Workshop last Friday

I actually managed to remember to go to my workshop last Friday, after forgetting to go to the one I should have gone to on the previous Tuesday. I blame a lack of vitamin B12! This second workshop was all about collagraphs. I have had a go at this on my own at home but I found out that I had been doing it the wrong way.....that explains why my print didn't come out - doh! The general idea is to stick various textures to a plate, in this case a piece of corrugated cardboard.




At this stage I am almost embarrassed to post what looks like a load of rubbish thrown on a sheet of cardboard! Anyway, we then "inked" it up, or in this case, used acrylic paint mixed with a tiny , tiny amount of thickening paste to give a similar (cheaper) consistency to printing ink. The secret was to hold the roller loosely and spread the paint in a small area on the printing plate till the roller was evenly covered and then apply the roller to the print block. Again you do not roll merrily all over the block but apply the paint in a small area at a time with a single movement of the roller. If you go backwards and forwards over the block you pick the paint/ink up again and remove it. The thickening paste actually stops the acrylic drying out so quickly so you have plenty of time to work. Once the printing block has sufficient paint/ink on (you have to learn this for yourself) you lay your printing paper over the top of the block - you do not as I thought turn the block over onto your paper!






Unfortunately I realise that I did not take a full sequence of pics so I shall have to take some more and insert them - watch this space!


Once the paper is laid on top you smoothly massage the paper over the contours of the block and you will gradually see the paint/ink taken up by the paper. You don't need to be too aggressive with the rubbing. Peel back the paper and see what you have. A surprise every time! You can print onto a coloured background, an old painting, text, the list is as long as your imagination. You can repeat the print with another colourway and turn the page through 90 degrees or 180 degrees whatever takes your fancy to build up layers. I particularly enjoyed making a block of textures in layers suggestive of landscape and I am quite pleased with the results:
You can also see a couple of monoprints I tried.





















These early efforts are obviously very crude but I am quite excited by the possibilities and will get round to practising some more.







In case you are wondering my mum has gone to stay at my brother's today. We have had a really busy time this visit and have done much more together than we usually do, usually we just potter around town here and watch a fair bit of telly - which probably explains why I am worn out - but it has been a good time. I will be seeing mum again next week as I've got to take her photos across to her - currently being printed at Klick.


I'm now looking forward to my next workshop on Friday "Reality into Abstraction" - should be fun!


Don't look now but I've just about caught up - albeit I've left a few things out so as not to bore the pants off everyone. Just one more thing - I saw this banner in a local church at the weekend and thought it might inspire someone:

Sorry blogger won't enlarge it.