Sticky tape is great for printmaking, particularly making collagraph plates, because it is instant – no waiting for glue to dry. Cut it, tear it, wrinkle it, melt it, cover stuff up with it, mask areas to add more textures or temporarily protect what’s underneath… There is a whole world of interesting tape out there just waiting for you; tape made from fabric, pvc, plastic, paper and metal, not to mention the home-made sticky tapes you can make for yourself with textures of your choice. I am packing up my studio in preparation for a move, and this is giving me the chance to sort out lots of ..read more

In this post I am taking another look at blind embossing and asking the question ‘what is the key to success for combining blind embossing with colour?’ Blind embossing seems to have been a bit of a theme over the last few weeks. I recently did a one to one on-line session to help one of my blog readers get to grips with blind embossing. We had some great discussions, and as often happens with teaching, I came away with more ideas than I had started with! After that I went to the recent Printmakers Council exhibition ‘Surface Challenge’ at the Barbican and was struck by the number of pri ..read more

What is Swedish tracing paper? This is a thin but strong tissue paper made from natural abaca fibres. Its usual use is for tracing dressmaking patterns. I am really grateful to Jo who brought some along to the last York Printmakers meeting – nobody had come across it before. If you sew as well as a printing, you may have discovered its potential for printmaking, but if not, I hope this post will encourage you to give it a go. Comparing Swedish tracing paper to lens paper / wet strength tissue Lens paper is also made of abaca fibre, it is very thin and when wet it tends to crumple up into ..read more

Silk Aquatint printing up close In this post I am taking the idea of silk aquatint as a starting point. But I am changing the scale and nature of the technique to make it big and rough, as though magnified many times. Imagine you have shrunk to the size of a fly and your amazing eyes enable you to see all the details of the fine silk aquatint blown up to bill board size. What is silk aquatint printing? Silk aquatint is a collagraph process, the texture of woven silk on the plate provides a dark ground to start building a design in lighter tones. The plates can be wonderfully detailed and th ..read more

“How could I print from that?” Was the question I asked myself when I found this fragment of an old fibreglass roof. In this post I will show you the answer! It has the fibre glass strands as well as some layers of plywood which were glued under it, and also some smooth resin from the top surface. Lovely! However, it is much too rough to ink up as intaglio just as it is, so some preparation for printing is needed. “Can I take it home?”After spotting your fascinating texture and deciding the it has potential for printing, the next question might be; can I take it home? Old barn doors wi ..read more

Collagraphs are fascinating due to the wonderful textures in the plates and prints. This is one of the main elements that captivates people when they discover collagraph printing and keeps them coming back for more. There are various ways of inking textures, and in this post I am taking you through an experiment I did to ink the plates and make the textures look even more 3d. Inking collagraphs The great thing about collagraph plates is that you can ink them as intaglio and relief at the same time, and get a complex layered image with just one pass through the press. No fiddling around with ..read more

Feel confident about pricing your original prints In this post I am aiming to help you feel more confident about deciding on a price for your original prints. Even for experienced printmakers pricing original prints can be tricky, and if you are starting out it is even harder to know how much to ask for your work. I have a quick handy method to check that I am thinking on the right lines with pricing. It works as an initial guide to provide a base line and can be tweaked as needed, taking some of the guesswork out of pricing your original prints. Do some market research The handy check is o ..read more

Tar gel is fantastic stuff to add to collagraph plates, it will help you create lively dynamic effects, and is really fun to use as well. I assumed that everybody knew about Tar Gel, but recently when I mentioned it to other printmakers they looked blank, so I did a straw poll among my students – also blank faces. I hope I can put that right with this post…. What is tar gel? Tar gel is one of the many acrylic mediums made by Golden. It is described as having ‘long rheology’. (The term originates from the Greek word “rhei” meaning “to flow”)   Tar gel is formulated to flow like honey ..read more

Traditional Pre-industrial papermaking is alive and well in Angoulême How well do you know your printmaking paper?Did it originate in a Ukranian pine forest, or a textile dump in India?How much does it matter? A recent visit to the Moulin du Verger near Angoulême, and a conversation with the master papermaker there, has helped shine a light on the history of paper for printmakers. Pre-industrial papermaking rediscovered This ancient paper mill has been in operation since 1539, and for the last 50 years Jacques Brejoux has been at the helm of the enterprise. He has made it his mission to re ..read more

Do you get plan chest envy? Do you dream of lovely neatly labelled drawers full of smooth flat categorised prints and papers? You are not alone! The solution to those expanding piles of paper and folders of prints could be nearer than you think. And a bit cheaper too. Print studio storage Printmaking paper is expensive and storing it somewhere flat and clean is sensible. A plan chest is just the thing. When I first set the studio up, I spent a while looking for plan chests in second hand stores and replying to ads on line but they all sold too fast for me to get one. They also seemed to b ..read more