Caught by Collagraphs – A French Creative Life

I am absolutely hooked on collagraphs. But what are they? Well they are a combination of techniques….collage, layering of paper and textures; drypoint, marking in the paper indentations, scratches, hatching, dots; Intaglio, pushing ink into ghe indentations and textured areas; and relief/ mono printing, laying down ink on raised areas and wiping off to create shades and depth.

It was invented in the 1970’s and I have been trawling Amazon for old books that detail this very expressive method. There are a few artists that use this method, often in conjunction with drypoint, utilising mountboards that can be cut or peeled away, the lower areas holding more ink, or Tetrapac juice cartons, with their waterproof, waxing coating – cutting into this and adding other layers, collagraph.

For me it’s the combination of working out the layers, what prints dark and light, where ghe ink sticks on rough and not smooth, and one completed and varnished to seal “the plate”, you have choices on how to ink.

Inking with waterbased ink is a good choice as it flows well into the grooves and using dampened paper to allow the paper fibres to be stretched down into those grooves to pick up the ink, Intaglio, you then can work as Monoprint, laying ink down, wiping off some, adding more as needed.

Then you lay over your paper, ideally 200grm, dampened for 5 minutes, blotted and then with a baren, back of a spoon, fingers, push the paper into the ink. Then pull back paper and reveal! No two collographs will ever be the same. They are all unique.

I tint mine with Pan Pastels, but you can leave as printed, or use different ink shades, or tinted papers. You can also print with fine Japanese papers to add pattern.

These are my first collagraphs and I’ve also taught a few lessons too, so I am embracing this technique as much as I can. Thus coming weekend I am at Parralex in London showing these. I am very excited to be back in my hometown and with my art…sort of a dream come true. I’ve a way to go in the art world, but hoping to make my mark!