I will be spending Ten Wednesday mornings till easter Intaglio printing with the lovely Sue Brown at the yard ARTspace in Cheltenham. If today's first session is anything to go by, I'm going to learn a lot and it's going to be great fun.
Today by way of introduction, we used drypoint on a clear plastic sheet with chine collé. This was largely a mark making exercise and a chance to explore the techniques together with lots of practical issues to learn. Still, we all left with a print and a sense of achievement.
My effort is shown left. I took one of my recent photos, traced over the main areas of the image, experimented with mark making, added strips of masking tape and found some interesting tissue paper for the chine collé.
This gave a pleasing combination of effects. The masking tape (since it held the ink after the print plate was wiped) printed rather like a relief print (brown and left on the resulting image), the incised marks held the ink and the chine collé (tissue paper) provided the text.
I will admit this presented me with some technical issues! I put the glued side of the chine collé face down on the print plate instead of face up so it stuck to the plate not the print. (I was not alone!) In trying to rectify this, I got printing ink on my fingers and finger marks on my print ... such is learning.
Still, there was nothing that could not be rectified with glue - or camouflaged for this post with the Adobe Photoshop brush tool. What you see here is what it should have looked like! Maybe next time ...
In case your knowledge of all this is, like mine was before I booked on the course, decidedly fuzzy, I found the following by a quick bit of googling. First of all is a simple definition of intaglio and then a Utube video here (among many others), and finally an explanation of chine collé (if you can stand the advert before it starts).
My effort is shown left. I took one of my recent photos, traced over the main areas of the image, experimented with mark making, added strips of masking tape and found some interesting tissue paper for the chine collé.
This gave a pleasing combination of effects. The masking tape (since it held the ink after the print plate was wiped) printed rather like a relief print (brown and left on the resulting image), the incised marks held the ink and the chine collé (tissue paper) provided the text.
I will admit this presented me with some technical issues! I put the glued side of the chine collé face down on the print plate instead of face up so it stuck to the plate not the print. (I was not alone!) In trying to rectify this, I got printing ink on my fingers and finger marks on my print ... such is learning.
Still, there was nothing that could not be rectified with glue - or camouflaged for this post with the Adobe Photoshop brush tool. What you see here is what it should have looked like! Maybe next time ...
In case your knowledge of all this is, like mine was before I booked on the course, decidedly fuzzy, I found the following by a quick bit of googling. First of all is a simple definition of intaglio and then a Utube video here (among many others), and finally an explanation of chine collé (if you can stand the advert before it starts).
I am delighted that you have started well, and are looking forward to the rest of the course.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the recommendation. Sue proved to be a most amusing and interesting teacher. I will post further as the course develops.
DeleteAh, this makes me miss my old printmaking studio. Great results for a first try so you are sure to enjoy the rest of the course!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had the opportunity to print with all the equipment for nigh on 50 years. I'm going to enjoy this!
DeleteDespite reading your explanation, I'm not at all sure what you did here. But I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Connie. As I read my post, I realise it's not at all clear! We scratched our design onto file cover plastic using sharp points of various shapes and weights. We then masked off a part of our design with masking tape to give contrast and texture (the brown section in the above), inked up the plate, cut the tissue to size for the chine collé and glued it lightly on the wrong side. We then assembled both and placed everything on the bed of the etching press for printing onto damp 300 gsm paper.
DeleteGreat videos - especially the one showing chine colle. Now I get it! And in one of those coincidental juxtapositions, I watched a different instructional video earlier in the day showing how to use painted deli paper which can be cut into shapes or torn and affixed to the page with gel medium, at which point any unpainted deli paper "disappears" on your art journaling spread. Slightly like the way the colored tissue paper becomes one with the paper being printed on in the chine colle video.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found the chine collé video helpful - I did too! The Snake Artist has lots of other printing videos on Utube which are well worth investigating if you're interested. Thanks also for your deli paper tip. .
DeleteOh lucky you!!! I can't wait to hear about/see what you produce in this upcoming time period!! Enjoy the course!
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for a similar opportunity for a while. Till Easter, we have a quiet time with no big trips away so this was ideal. I will post any further images that are worth posting.
DeleteLove that chine colle video. And well, you know me and tissue paper. I'm smitten!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab course. I am literally green with envy!!!
Thanks for your comment. I think you live relatively close to me here. There are other courses at the yard ARTspace if you're interested, including some at weekends.
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