Collagraph printing

When my son moved out I finally had a room that I could turn into an art/craft space, come spare bedroom. Once it was clear that home working was here to stay, I moved my husband off the dining room table, up into that room and I was then relegated to the kitchen table. We put up shelves but not much has happened since.

This week I have tidied up my tiny space, as I finally got around to printing a few of my collagraph prints that I made back in January and realised that I definitely needed things in a bit more order.

The top shelf holds brushes, Gouache, acrylic and oil paints in their individual baskets and the huge Sonos speaker, because who can do without music in the kitchen.

The lower shelf holds more brushes, glues and sealants, small stacked pieces of Japanese Lino and newly labelled boxes which hold my cutting tools and tapes, inks, collagraph and lino plates and collage papers.

On the table I have my little Xcut Xpress machine and two pieces of toughened glass for inking.

Its great and hopefully a lot of what I need is now on hand, but I still have so much other equipment, stored under beds mostly, that unless I get a dedicated room I will never be able to have all of my art/craft/sewing stuff together in one place. 

Plates made in January

A takeaway coffee cup

This coffee cup print is only 2.5" x 3.5". I recently brought some Strathmore printmaking paper and its made a huge difference, as I know that I can soak the paper and not risk it falling apart like it has with my previous attempts. I did one run through and then a ghost print, which I will probably hand colour.

Magpie at the window

I then printed up my magpie sitting on the windowsill and this didn't work as well. It's ok, but a lot to learn in ink wiping to master the different tones.

With this print of Bertie our singing miniature schnauzer I used Cranfield caligo safe wash ink for the first time over, Akua intaglio ink and I prefer it. For the first time I used a colour other than black and I really like the Prussian blue. I think I'll get some sepia and Paynes grey to try next.

I also realised when I cleaned the plate that it wasn't sealed properly and liquid has seeped in, another lesson learnt.

Two prints taken from the one inking and again I prefer the softness of the ghost print.

In my research for home learning collagrapah printing I've read that it usually takes a few prints for the ink to really start holding nicely to the plate and better prints can then be taken. I need to be more confident in my ability to be able to do this due to wastage of paper though. 

I also need to have a think about what to do with my prints, they're not yet good enough to give away, or heaven forbid sell, but maybe one day.