More collagraph experimentation

In January I made a plate which didn’t print terribly well, very dark and lacking detail. In February I reprinted it in a different colour range and was much happier with the result.

The aim was to see how a cutout area would work and also to explore tearing away mountboard layers to achieve tonal variation. I liked the cutout part, which was inked in a different colour and replaced before printing with the main plate, but didn’t like the effect of the torn layers.

Cutting into and removing differing layers of mountboard before sealing is supposed to create tonal variation but I’m unsure why this is the case. As soon as the top smooth outer layer of mountboard is cut and removed you find a ‘furry’ layer below and no matter how many layers you remove you still have the same furry appearance on each layer. So why would there be a variation in tone when the surface is always the same? Is it because more ink is held in a deeper tear? I don’t think so.

So I made a new trial plate to have another look.

From top to bottom this plate is made from the following: frayed scrim, crumpled masking tape, lightly applied carborundum gel (spread with my finger), adhesive aluminium tape, embossed paper, micaceous iron oxide (painted on the 2 dark shapes) all on the surface of a piece of mountboard. The board has been torn away at the bottom revealing different inner layers. The whole thing has been varnished a couple of times. The image above shows it after printing, hence the black areas where there’s still a bit of ink before it’s properly cleaned, it helps you to see the materials and layers.

The print has been very success in that each part has its own distinct tone and the whole thing sits well together. These components, with their differing textures, would work well to create land- or seascapes.

So what about the torn section? To my eye that area has the same tonal range throughout, regardless of depth of layering. However, ink has caught well along the tear lines, separating and highlighting each part. So maybe the answer lies not in the use of a single colour but in applying a range of colours instead. If I were to imagine this part as a rocky hilltop (or mountains in the distance) and altered the colour value (saturation) and varied the hue (warm and cool tints & shades within an analogous colour range) in selected areas that should achieve a much more varied visual outcome.

My motto: Never stop experimenting, so you always keep on learning.