Following my first attempt at creating a collagraph plate, I decided the next print would be of an endangered ‘ferreret’ (well, two), which is a tiny (max. 4cm long) frog endemic to Mallorca.
It exists only in the Serra de Tramuntana mountains and represents the struggle of local fauna to survive in the face of invasive species and other significant threats to their habitat.
One of the challenges of this block was creating the markings found on the frogs’ skin. As I had no idea whether my approach would work, it was (again) pretty exciting to pull the print and see what the result was.
On the first print, there were a few mall shellac shards around the image, so I either painted the coats too thick or the pressure was slightly too high. But I was otherwise really happy with how it turned out.
After my collagraph tutorial with Marian Haf, I couldn’t wait to have a go at putting into practice all the steps she’d explained. Naturally, my chosen subject was a chicken (new arrivals in the garden at home).
The photos below show each stage of creating the collagraph plate, including the initial drawing, scratching details into the mountboard, sealing the plate with shellac, inking up and a resulting early print.
As well as printing a lovely one-colour version in Prussian Blue (a favourite colour), I also had a go (under Julio’s guidance) at creating a two-colour version using the à la poupée technique. This uses a ball of fabric to add different colours to a single intaglio plate.
It was intriguing and exciting to peel back and reveal the first print after putting it through the press, as I had no idea what to expect. But I was really pleased with the result and loved the idea of using simple (and relatively ‘safe’) materials to create the plate.
Living on a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean often makes it tricky to find courses you can actually get to in person. I’ve loved Welsh printmaker Marian’s work and style since I stumbled across her on Instagram, and was excited to see that she offered online tutorials in both relief and intaglio collagraph techniques.
I had been curious about intaglio printmaking for a while and collagraph seemed to be a good ‘gateway’ technique (as well as being an option for trying out as a relief method as I don’t yet have an etching press). Marian’s work has a painterly look that really appeals to me, too, so she was the obvious person to turn to for an introduction.
We had a quick chat over email while booking the session, and Marian kindly agreed to adapt the tutorial to cover both collagraph approaches. She usually focuses on either one or the other and sends one of her beautiful bird prints to participants, but as I’m in Spain and the postal service being what it is post-Brexit, this wasn’t possible in my case.
Ahead of the one-hour video call, Marian sent over an illustrated (very handy to have a visual guide) list of recommended materials. However, I didn’t need these for the tutorial, which was purely going to be an intensive, in-at-the-deep-end demonstration of how she creates collagraph plates and prints them using the two techniques.
Unsurprisingly, the time whizzed by. Marian was absolutely lovely to speak to and kindly shared her expertise and handy tips based on many years of trial and experimentation in her print studio. Watching her skillfully create the plates was mesmerising and inspiring in equal measure, and left me itching to have a go as soon as I can find someone with an etching press…
