Ever wondered how you choose what materials to use to make a collagraph plate? It can be a bit daunting when there are so many choices so constructing a sampler plate using lots of different materials can really help you understand what will print and how.
Start with a rigid board
It should be strong enough to survive repeated inking, printing and washing and thin enough to go through the press – up to 3mm is fine
•strawboard, and mat board… work well for cutting and peeling techniques also gluing on materials
•tetrapacs….eg juice cartons …open, flatten and use the inside for drypoint
•3mm mdf…good rigid baseplate for additive materials and can be incised into
Add material to the board
Sampler plate on right. Print from plate on left.
· Untouched strawboard for the sky.·
. Cut out card stock circle for moon.
· Torn cardboard for headland.
· Waffle kitchen towel for the sea.
· Crumpled aluminium foil for the large rock.
· Sticky tape strips for the flat rocks.
· Incised lines for the anchor ropes.
· Cutout cardstock for boats.
· Carborundum powder for the beach.
Now you have a sampler which you can refer to when you’re looking for a particular effect. I chose to make this one as a scene but you can simply apply it in any random way you like. You could even do plates with specific themes eg. a plate with all the different tapes you have .
Lindy Whitton Studio 