Saturday, November 7, 2009

Experimenting with Collagraphs



Celtic Horse
Collagraph
acrylic on computer paper
8.50” x 11”



Have you ever tried making a collagraph? It is a type of printmaking where you build up the surface, rather than subtracting (as in making a stamp). You can use any kind of firm material for the base (cardboard, mat board scraps, canvas board, etc.) with various glued down flat objects (leaves, fabric, coins, etc.). With such a range of ingredients, it can be very creative.

Long wanting to make a collagraph, I could not settle down and decide on a premeditated design so I looked on my shelves, thinking about what size to use and found an unfinished painting on Gessobord. It had been an experiment—the first time I had tried using an acrylic medium called string gel. Dipping a palette knife in the jar, I then lifted it and swirled it over a section of the rigid surface.

Now, I was curious—would it make a good collagraph? Since it already had a raised design on the surface, I wouldn’t have to wait for everything to dry overnight (or longer). Bonus--I could play now!

Trying various papers and full-body acrylic paints on hand, I first tried rolling paint on a brayer and transferring it to the raised design. It didn’t work very well, so I switched, using a brush to put paint on the hardened string gel. This yielded much better results.

Limiting myself to just three colors (blue, teal, brown), I began to see a horse’s eye, a muzzle, and then an abstract body. The swirls reminded me of Celtic knots and spirals. Cool!

I tried other variations, using Cotman 140 lb. w/c paper, inkjet translucent vellum, and beige cardstock. Surprisingly, the plain computer paper showed the most details.

9 comments:

  1. Very cool! I'm supposing you press the paper down onto the design and not the other way around as with stamping.

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  2. Yes, indeed Robyn. I watched a YouTube demo but skipped a waxed paper layer above the printing paper. And I don’t have a big printing press—that’s another way to do it. Have you ever tried it?

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  3. Yes.... this is very cool Gina! I've never tried this but i'd like to! Thanks for sharing!!

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  4. Gina, I so enjoy your explorations into techniques and projects. I have wanted to try all the various printmaking projects I have heard about, and you have inspired me. I also appreciate the links on the Texas librarians website. I now know about Googledocs. Thanks.

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  5. Do try it sometime, Manon—it’s very interesting and fun!

    Thanks very much, Mary. Experiments don’t always turn out beauties but there’s always something to learn, which I love. Glad you’ve learned from the interesting TX librarian site, too.

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  6. This Collagraph idea sounds like a great one - I've been thinking about trying it for a long time. I've been looking for some ways to make art that would go together pretty quickly as Christmas gifts. Our family doesn't do commercial gifting - but this year my energy level is low, and don't have the stamina to produce my usual gallery size array of art to give away - so thank you for reminding me of the old fashioned collagrah. This gives me hope I can create some worthwhile and finished gifts this year!
    Olivia

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  7. And ‘twas fun as well, Chris!

    Best of luck making some collagraphs for Yule, 4roomsandthemoon (what a great name). By varying how much pressure you use and which paint colors you select, you can get some interesting results. You can add a background, too. Let me know how yours turn out.

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  8. Gina, I'm going to go looking for the YouTube demo. Have never done these without a big printing press, and of course I don't have one of those! What fun!

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