Some Information on Printmaking Techniques

Collagraph Print
"Collagraph is essentially an experimental form of printmaking which involves adding layers of adhesive or solid material to the surface of a printing plate, making it possible to incorporate both relief and intaglio printmaking methods on a single plate. There are no limitations to how complex or simple a plate can be, or to the kind of material it can be made from. Paper, metal, plastic, wood, and cloth are just a few examples of materials readily adaptable to the process. Also the use of layers of adhesives such as PVA glue, varnish, acrylic gesso and metal filler to create autographic markings has made collagraph popular with artists normally associated with painting. The contrasting textures which can be achieved are limited only by the imagination. Assuming the right materials is used as a base plate, a printmaker can create heavy-duty plates for editioning large numbers of
prints. The process can also be readily adapted to safe, non-toxic methods of printmaking."
--Sourced from “Collagraphs and Mixed-Media Printmaking” by Brenda Hartill and Richard Clarke

Collagraph is the primary print method I use in my work. For the better part of my career I have had my studio either in my home or in close proximity to it. Not only was I trained in collagraph print, but I also like the flexibility to adapt it to non-toxic methods of working since where I live and work are very close together. I personally use tempered masonite as my plate material and create the plate by gluing down (or “collaging”) a variety of fabric, sometimes fiber, carborundum (metal) grit, and paper, with acrylic gesso to create my image. Sometimes I cut my plates so they are in the shape of pots or cups, this also enables me to move them around the paper while printing. After I wipe the plate with etching ink, I buff and then print it by running it through my press. Quite a few of my pieces start with a collagraph printed on mulberry paper which is then cut out and collaged onto another piece of paper that may have drawing, painting or another print already on it.

Relief Print
"In a relief print it is the surface of he block that yields the image; the areas that do not print are cut away, as in a woodcut or lino[leum]cut, or a positive image is created by cutting white lines into the block, as in a wood engraving...In all methods ink is rolled on the surface, paper is then placed upon it, and this is either rubbed by hand or run through a press to produce an image. The woodcut is one of the most widely known and used forms of relief print. In a woodcut it is the raised surface containing the positive image that is printed. The background area, or negative space, is carved away, creating the white or nonprinting, areas."
--Sourced from “The Complete Printmaker” by John Ross, Clare Romano and Tim Ross.

Although I do not use woodblock or relief printing very much in my work, I prefer to use a block that has a discernible woodgrain so that it creates another level of texture within a piece.

Silkscreen, or Seriagraph, Print
"Of all the print methods in use today, screen printing is no doubt one of the newest, yet it has ancient origins. It is also one of the simplest, most direct procedures for obtaining multicolor images. The screen print is produced on a rectangular frame over which fine fabric—silk, polyester, nylon, Dacron, or organdy—is stretched. The fabric is “blocked out” wherever unprinted areas are to appear, and water- or oil-based color is squeegeed or
brushed through the open mesh of the fabric, producing an image on the surface below."
--Sourced from “The Complete Printmaker” by John Ross, Clare Romano and Tim Ross.

I use silkscreen printing primarily to create organic grass patterns in my work. My plates are created by exposing actual cuttings of grass from my garden using a photo-sensitive coating on the screen.