The next bit......

Now it's time to start the collagraph plate.

I absolutely L O V E collagraph.  It enables you to get a huge range of effects using everyday materials, no nasty chemicals, just at home on the kitchen table if necessary. Of course you still need a press to print the plate with, otherwise you just can't get the pressure required to get the ink out of all of the details, but it really is so versatile.  You can be really precise with shapes, marks and lines using a scalpel or drypoint needle, or a bit random using PVA glue, carborundum powder and even polyfilla! And all you need for the plate is a piece of mountboard.
 

Just a few of the materials you can use to make a collagraph

I cut my mountboard shape to match the copper plate I made yesterday, and transferred the design using the same tracing paper and chalk method.

I then set about making the different marks and textures.  First, using a scalpel to take the surface layer of paper off the mountboard, scoring first, then peeling it off carefully.  This will leave an area of card in which the ink will stay when the plate's inked up, creating a darker shape.  The scalpel makes a lovely precise line and the darker area will be uniform in tone, so contrasting (I hope) with the more fluid patterns and textures in the copper plate and other areas of the collagraph.

At this point, if I wanted to, I could add some finer lines using the scalpel or a drypoint needle.  If this was only going to be a collagraph I would have done this, but as I've included some scratchy lines in the copper plate, I'll resist the temptation to add too much!

Next, time to play with glue.....

 

I've put normal PVA woodglue out on my tinfoil 'palette'. This will enable me to use it as is, or mix with other things.  Usually (and I completely forgot this time) I would mix in a little acrylic paint just so I could see where I was putting it.  I've also mixed some carborundum (very fine metal filings) with some thicker adhesive I use for jewellery making.  This is a bit of an experiment as I havent done this before...usually I would pour the carborundum onto the wet glue and shake off, a la glitter on Play School, but I find you often get bits of carborundum where you don't want them.  

 

Here's the plate, finished.  Unfortunately as I forgot to colour the PVA it's difficult to see where it is, but in when it's been shellaced all will become clear.  I scraped some of the glue and carborundum mixture with a serrated plastic knife to get some more lines, and used a drier brush for some of the pva application to try and get more brushstrokes but, again, time and the printing process will tell whether such subtleties will work in practice.

And then, having sworn not to overdo things, I gave way to temptation and applied some more PVA by squeezing directly from the bottle.  It looks gloopy, but I love the effect you get this way and it's worked really well for me in previous collagraphs.  Trouble is, those were bigger, and I may have overcooked my goose as far as this smaller plate is concerned.  Oh well, nothing ventured etc etc.....

Now that the plate has dried and had a layer of shellac (French polish) coated over it, it's ready to print from (once the shellac's dried).  The shellac protects the plate from the moisture of the printing ink.  You can also see a lot more easily now, how the pva will work in creating pale areas where the ink isnt taken up.

 

The next step tommorrow will be to go to my lovely friend Cath Brooke's printing dungeon and see what sort of a print these plates produce. Given what else is happening in the world tomorrow, I think a subterranean place with no news in it will be the best place to be.