Monday, May 3, 2010

How to Make a Collagraph

I want to post more info about different printmaking techniques. it's a shame that printmaking is so undervalued as an art form because not that many people understand what it is. it has gotten to be a "secret art" unless you have studied it.

These photos don't quite show the entire process, but i will post more at a later time.


How I made "Flower Girl":

This print is a collagraph, which is basically a collaged printmaking plate. You can use any materials you want, provided they are fairly flat. If an object is too bulky, it will not print well and may also damage your paper and the rollers of the press. My collagraph plate was made using a base of cardboard. I cut layers of cardboard away, and added tape, sandpaper, plastic netting, Brita filter carbon grains, and cut paper shapes. I also cut little marks into the shoes and grass area with my razor blade. The whole thing was then covered with a few layers of acrylic medium to seal the added elements and to waterproof the plate so that I could ink it. I used Akua waterbased inks for this print. I will do another post later about the process of printing. As you can see, the print comes out as the reverse of the plate. Most printmaking techniques besides screenprinting will make a reverse image. Collagraph is a really fun technique, and you can do it on the cheap (which is great if you want to make big plates or simply experiment.)

9 comments:

  1. This is really beautiful Aijung! Need to try this some time. Thanks for the tutorial!

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  2. Wow! But I'm still confused. I am going to start cutting some cardboard though and see what happens.

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  3. hey rina,

    actually for this process it works best if you have a press to print it on. but, you could also just ink it by rolling an inked brayer over and then placing your paper on top and rubbing. it's a bit harder to print by hand, though. once i'm in the printshop again, i'll try to take more photos of how you actually ink it up and print it. here's another idea: cut out your cardboard shapes and glue them on, then use a very thin paper and place on top, rolling an inked brayer right on top of the paper. if the paper is thin, it will transfer the image (sort of like a charcoal rubbing). hope that's not too confusing. i'm going to try this technique out soon.

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  4. I love your creativity. Very Well done:) Thank you for sharing.

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  5. Beautiful, and so simple. I was making collagraph prints today. Was going to add an image, but not sure how to

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  6. This is so cool!
    I am looking for different ways of printmaking and this one is really great!

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  7. I also love Collagraphy and feel it is a most under appreciated form of printmaking. I love the spontaneity and textural quality you can achieve! Nice post on the process. Thanks.

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  8. Wonderful! So talented. Thank you for making my day brighter!

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