07.12.20 - Comfort Zone Collagraph Prints

Today I had the chance to finish the collagraph plates that I made for my previous project. After the second coat of varnish had dried it was clearer to see the details that the ink would pick up, like the lines I cut into the background.

 

The first prints came out very dark as I expected and it is difficult to make out the different shapes from a distance, but the border shows through because I used a shiny surface whereas the rest of the plate is made up of matte textures. I think if I used sellotape for some of the insect shapes it would have made them appear much brighter and separate them from the background.

The second set is still quite unclear and blotchy but I think the marks are interesting because it reminds me of old damaged photographs where the blurring of the images creates more intrigue and mystery, but I think in this case I would like the image to be more clear.

My final set of prints were the most successful because you can properly see all of the lines and shapes and I think they look like black and white scans or negatives, so I could use collagraph if I want to make something that looks historical and aged. It surprised me that the background lines came out so strong because if it had been lino they would be negative spaces where the ink doesn't show up, but in this method of printing they seem to be inverted, and look like fine pen lines. I like the way the ink creates shadow around the edges of the shapes, especially the spider because it is like a ghostly silhouette, but you can't particularly see any pattern on it. The less subtle ones showed up much better, like the moth shape which I made with creased masking tape. 

The soaked paper I used was really absorbent and this caused the ink to bleed quite a lot, but I don't think this is a bad thing because it created a blurry appearance that reminds me of an out of focus photograph.