Project 11: Further impressions

I tried creating textures with various wet media on my plate. I used watercolour resist medium. I also made brush marks and spirals using white acrylic paint. I covered one side of the cardboard plate with gesso. I drew into the gesso, scratching lines with the tip of a paintbrush handle. I also made impressions in the gesso using various items including the metal washers. I applied some paper to the gesso and lifted it away creating a rippled texture. The impressions formed by objects were not very distinct  - this was because the gesso was still very wet and pliable. I have since found out that it is possible to get a more precise impression by oiling the object (so it doesn't stick) an leaving it in-situ until the gesso or Polyfilla dries. Then the object can be removed leaving a clean impression. 

From left to right: Marks made using watercolour resist medium, acrylic paint and impressions made into gesso

The resulting print using intaglio inking with hawthorn's stay-open indigo

The resulting print with intaglio inking in Hawthorn's sonic orange rolled over with indigo

The prints from this plate were a little disappointing. Intaglio inking and wiping using indigo ink resulted in a very thin print. I had anticipated that the smoother surfaces of the paint and the gesso would wipe clean and print light but I expected more ink uptake by the backing cardboard and the textures in the gesso. Maybe I over-wiped the plate although it still looked as though the ink was there before I put in through the press. The only areas that really took up the ink were the places where bubbles had formed in the watercolour masking fluid.
 I intaglio inked the plate with sonic orange ink and then rolled over in indigo. I was annoyed that my roller wasn't quite as large as the plate so I got lines where the edges of the roller went over the textured area. I went back and forth several times with the roller in an attempt to disguise these lines. This was unsuccessful: On the textured gesso on the right side of the print, roller lines can clearly be seen. However, on the left side, the repeated rolling has all but completely obliterated any textural detail. 

On my next plate I experimented with acrylic paint and carborundum. I tried two grades of carborundum: fine and coarse. I tried mixing the carborundum with the paint and painting it onto the plate. I also tried painting with acrylic pain onto the card and sprinkling the carborundum onto the wet paint. I waited for the paint to dry and then lifted the plate and tapped off the excess. This evoked memories of primary school and applying glitter to Christmas cards. (Incidentally, the whole collagraph project brings back happy primary school memories as we had a great art teacher and we did rudimentary collagraphs by sticking wallpaper, string and corrugated cardboard onto board to create a landscape and printing from these using poster paint - great fun!)

From left to right: Marks made with gesso, acrylic paint mixed with carborundum, acrylic paint with carborundum sprinkled over it and adhered to the surface. 

Intaglio print of the above plate. From left to right: Carborundum sprinkled on acrylic paint, carborundum mixed with paint, gesso. 

On the intaglio inked plate, the carborundum really took up a lot of the ink and created a satisfying dark dark. The edges of the marks were more distinct where the carborundum had been sprinkled onto the surface compared to when the grit had been mixed with the paint and sprinkled on. I had tried to create some interesting marks by applying paint through the stiff lace as a stencil. These marks really didn't show up at all on the intaglio wiped plate, only the areas of paint that had been pulled up and textured by the removal of the lace while still wet showed.

Print from the same plate as above with an additional relief rollover in black.

Relief rolling in black over the residual ink on the plate gave a completely different effect. The carborundum was now lighter than the surrounding flat board and had a slightly grainy or mottled texture. The edges of the brush marks took up more of the black ink lost creating a black outline to the marks (especially those with the sprinkled carborundum).


With my previous experimental plate, I had noticed that sewing thread worked quite well, whereas string was much too thick. I had also had some success using thread in my monotypes earlier in the course. I thought that thread would be ideal for drawing linear elements on collagraph prints so I tried out my theory. I love drawing repetitive lines and repetitive mark making because I find it meditative so I embarked on a project of repetitive line drawing on a collagraph plate using thread. I found that this too was a meditative process. However, because I was using PVA glue and it was drying quite quickly, I ended up having some really thick areas of glue from repeated applications. Because the PVA is shiny and smooth when it tries, I was concerned that this might stop the thread taking up the ink and showing as a line. This was not a major problem. Most of the lines were clear and distinct. 

Intaglio print in indigo of a plate constructed using sewing thread

I printed this plate in intaglio using indigo ink. In a couple of areas, there was a lot more background tone than on the rest of the plate which made the lines less distinct. I'm not sure whether this was the result of uneven wiping, or whether it is because of excessive glue being textured by lots of fingerprints when trying to stick down the thread.

Print from the same plate as above intaglio inked in turquoise with a black relief rollover

I then printed intaglio in turquoise and relief rolled in black. This time I had a problem with lines from the edge of the roller. Each time I tried to re-roll to blend in the lines, I just made more lines. This was very frustrating and takes away from the overall impression of the print. I need to look into getting either a very large roller which will cover the plates in one pass or some very small rollers for filling in detailed and delicate areas without covering the plate. 

Another impression from the same plate with the ghost of the turquoise intaglio inking and another black relief rollover. 

I repeated the roll over without re-inking the turquoise because I thought that the wet ink was partly to blame for attracting the black and making the lines. This worked better in that there weren't the obvious lines but the resulting print doesn't have the same pop of bright turquoise. It is overall quite dark without a great deal of tonal variation.

What I learnt:

• Acrylic paint or smooth gesso wipe almost completely clean so can be used for creating light areas when intaglio inking
• Carborundum attracts the ink so can be used for creating dark or black tonal areas on intaglio inking
• carborundum doesn't look so dark on relief rolling - it can be used for texture rather than tone with this technique
• Creating impressions in the gesso isn't as easy as I had thought - the gesso must be set before removing the object to get a clean impression
• linear elements can be created by drawing into gesso with a pointed object
• Another way to make lines is to use sewing thread. 
• it is difficult to roll over the textured plates without making lines with the roller which subsequently necessitates repeated rolling for obliteration. This also obliterates fine detail. It might be possible to avoid this with a very large roller but they are very expensive.