Collography is a simple and fun way to develop a printing plate, think of it as making a collage of texture on a rigid substrate. In the example above just two materials, contact paper and sequin waste (think of a shiny roll of metallic material that has had sequins punched out of it) have been used, with a little detail added by cutting in to the substrate to catch ink in those groves.
Using only masking tape, which has a slightly rough texture, I made this simple plate. The line detail, which shows up after inking and printing, is just a cut with a razor knife.
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- masking tape on Cintra plate
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- printed from masking tape collagraph plate
A combination of smooth and textured paper glued to the substrate yielded this print. Notice that I used a different inking method allowing for 2 colors. There is an endless variety of ways to print the plate, so one plate could produce a wealth of unique prints.
Notice how the print is always
Look around for interesting textures. These prints used mesh from a fruit bag, and a loosely woven craft ribbon.
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- plate from fun foam shapes and mesh bag
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- loosely woven craft ribbon manipulated catches the ink in interesting ways
The examples above show the difference of printing on to dry paper, or getting a richer, more nuanced print using good quality paper that can be used damp.
My studio mate Helga has been experimenting with a plate she made of masking tape and contact paper. These are just a few of the prints she has pulled so far.
And here are a couple of alternate inkings of the first image in this post:
I would love to invite you to the studio to try your hand at creating your own hand pulled print — drop me a note or contact me on Facebook.
