And finally to print!

Way back a while ago I started to work on this collagraph plate.

It started when I looked at one of my 'Under Construction' pieces and thought how much I loved the stitched-on twigs.

So I sketched an indication of them onto tracing paper, and transferred them onto some grey board.

And began cutting.

And then I shellacked the plate.

And so it remained for over 6 weeks until last Friday when I picked it up and got to print. At last.

I chose to print with  a combination of burnt sienna and Payne's grey, with loosened up water-based etching inks.

It was quite the challenge to get the surface lines to take the Payne's Grey without smudging the back ground too much; but then I worked out it would be fine if there were smudges.

Same with the edges.  I started out trying to keep within the lines; then decided to actively rub outside the lines

I hadn't printed in aeons it felt like, so I was tentative with the pressure, but in the end I quite liked the ethereal look of the print. Although the more heavily printed parts don't please me.

But there are some lovely moments.

I kept printing with different papers and different pressures and directions and ended with a stash of prints that I numbered and recorded what I did differently between each one.

They are so far removed from twigs now. Are they people dancing? Are they a forest after the bushfires?  Are they hieroglyphics telling of our times? So many things can be seen within them and that intrigues me.

I was particularly happy with how well the ink came off the plate without a laborious clean up session. Yay.

The works will act as a reference and guide to future experiments and hopefully prints.  At some point I want to include letterpress with prints in some way so that will be the next bit...