First Ever Collagraph Prints

A very recent collagraph print "Temple of Concordia"

I thought I'd dig out and show a few of my very first collagraph prints I ever made!

Collagraph Print - Print created from a card plate made by adding paint, glue, enamel and other textures. This holds the ink in varying degrees and is printed through the Intaglio process.The more texture on the printing plate the more ink it will hold and the darker the image will print. The smoother the surface of the plate it will hold less ink and therefore print whiter.

My first ever collagraph prints were made a bit differently to what I am doing now. I was first introduced to the technique in 1992 by a visiting art tutor at my college. We did a whole project which started off with going out and photographing rooftops around the town for some strange reason! We then developed the black and white film in the dark room and printed off some photos to inspire us to collage together an image to then make the printing plates.

Heres my first ever collagraph printing plate, its a bit battered! It is made from mountboard which is cut into, has sandpaper stuck onto it for the really dark tones and sellotape for the lighter tones. Very fiddly but fun to make!

Heres one of the prints from the plate. Not bad for a first attempt!

I then decided to focus a bit more on the parts that I had liked from the first print - the roof with the missing tiles, the chimneys and the brick work. Again this was made with mountboard, sellotape and tiny pieces of masking tape cut out for the bricks!

 The finished print. Sadly I only have this one as the college liked them so much they kept the best ones! This also has a cyantotype print behind it of one of the rooftops.

Another collagraph print completed while at college. I did this as a series of four prints with the trees gradually growing up the building and engulfing it.

Which bears a striking similarity to a collagraph print I did only a few years ago which shows I still love my windows, doors and columns!

Ruined Forecourt collagraph print

 Was really interesting seeing how different and also how alike my older collagraph prints are to the ones I do now, I'm so glad I learned all about them many years ago!

 Clare xx