Printmaking 1 (Collagraphy)

Week 5 at Art School - p.1

This week's workshop was printmaking. I've been really looking forward to this as I did some printmaking (monoprinting and screen printing) last year and absolutely loved it. I even had some of my prints in my portfolio when I interviewed for this course and I know they went down well. At this workshop we were going to do collography. The beauty of collography is that it's cheap, and can be used as both an intaglio or a relief method of print.

The tutor and the technician demonstrated how to make "plates", the actual inking up process and also how to print. The two antiquated looking things above are the printing presses we are going to be using. We also got to see some other students work for inspiration. Then we were all given small pieces of mountboard to play with and sent off to make some plates with them, using blades and other sharp, pokey things. We have till next week to get them done and then covered in several coats of shellac (sealant to strengthen the plates because they are subjected to lots of pressure). I think I'll do two - one with lots of bits carved out, and another with things built up on the surface. Inking up and printing will be next week so watch this space for the finished prints!

Art and design history lecture today was about Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession - some of my favourite styles of art. The lecturer showed us a picture of the Glasgow School of Art designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh - man what I wouldn't give to study there!