What is a Collagraph

Gayle at work

Collagraph is a printmaking technique which operates, as the name suggests, on the basis of collage. It is a particularly robust, direct and unfussy type of printmaking, with the distinct advantage that it helps one avoid the temptations of being too intentional with one`s images, as one might be with lino, line-etching, or silkscreen. Because the surfaces one creates are relatively unpredictable and indirect, one avoids the temptation merely to illustrate.
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THE BASIC PROCESS.
By adding marks, textures and surfaces to a thin base plate, a low relief is created. This can then be inked up in a number of ways:-
a) by rubbing ink, or inks, into the grooves and fissures (the intaglio). The superficial ink is then wiped away using cotton rag, and a print can be taken which echoes the deeper surfaces of the plate (this is the basic principle of an intaglio print).
b) by rolling ink, or inks, over the top surfaces and then taking a print (a relief print)
c) by rubbing ink, or inks, into the grooves and fissures (the intaglio), wiping away the superficial ink using cotton rag, and then rolling ink, or inks, over the top surfaces (a relief print and intaglio print combined).
The result of the last inking process is a particularly rich image.
There are refinements to all these processes.
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1. Take any sheet of thin stiff material as a base to create the plate.
a very thin plywood - or thin polythene are ideal, as are mounting board and metal plates.
2. Glue, stitch or attach other surfaces to this base trying to ensure that the total depth isn`t greater than twice the depth of the base material. Ideally, the lower the relief surface the better.
For this purpose a range of different surfaces can be tried:-
a) P.V.A. can be dribbled, spread, smeared, rubbed or painted on the surface. Because P.V.A. tends to dry smoothly,
it will normally reject ink, while the raw aeroply will still have a "tooth" which will retain ink.
b) The P.V.A. itself can be mixed with sand, earth, plaster or similar materials. This. like the raw aeroply, will retain rubbed ink but to different degrees.
N.B. Substances mixed must be fine and even in texture to hold ink on a consistent basis.
c) Tile grout or cement can also be spread or smeared on the plate. This, like P.V.A. mixed with sand, provides a "tooth" for the retention of ink.
d) Paper - smooth, crinkled or cut; card; silver paper foil; or any such material can be glued to the plate. Ink will be retained at the edges or where there are creases.
e) Scrim, cloth, hessian, organdie, etc., can be glued smoothly or crushed. The grain of the material will retain ink, as will the creases and folds.
The above is but a small indication of the possibilities. Try any other additions yourself.
The surface can also be eroded, cut, sliced, attacked or otherwise modified, either before or after the addition of other materials .
a) Try cutting with a stanley knife or craft knife, or engraving it with a power engraver
.b) Try sanding by hand or with a power sander.
c) Try sand-blasting or burning.
d) Or try any other alternative.
Other material can be added or removed before or after printing, so that inking and printing can just be intermediate stages in the longer process of refining the image.
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PRINTING
For a), b) & c) above, an etching press is needed.
i. Place a piece of tissue paper face up on the bed of the press to protect the bed of the press from ink on the back of the plate.
ii. Place the inked plate face up on this tissue paper.
iii. Place the printing paper on top of the plate.*
iv. Place another piece of tissue over the printing paper to protect the blankets.
v. Pull the blankets back over all the above.
vi. Run the image through the press.
* Because of the pressure exerted by the press, and because of the rough surface of the plate, the printing paper needs to be softened to take the image. To achieve this, place the paper in the water bath to soak for an hour minimum ( longer if it a heavy printing paper) withdraw from the bath and blot to remove surplus water (oil (ink) and water don`t mix). It is then ready to be used for printing.
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