Texture using collograph

The requirement is for a collograph print with the emphasis on texture made from jigsaw blocks.

My first thought was an idea for a print based on a drawing I worked up inspired by a drawing of pears on a plate by Ben Nicolson.  I chose apples as a theme I return to many times when drawing or doodling. However, I felt that it wasn't suitable for a textured collograph as I couldn't "see" the apples with texture.  I then considered a landscape based on the view of rape fields at Rabley Drawing Centre.  I simplified and abstracted the design and felt that it was developing along the right lines.

However, when I came across some ornamental gourds, their textures, shapes and colours seemed very applicable for a textural print. 

I drew several sketches and produced some collages but realised that I needed to look in more detail at the composition - bearing in mind that the final design needed to be suitable for jigsaw plates. I used the Ben Nicolson again as inspiration in the way that his composition used the stalks of the pears to draw the eye around the drawing.  While looking at this stage I also checked the suitability for a jigsaw print by drawing thumbnails and dividing the image into 3 blocks.

 I cut the plates and by referring to the sketches and textures of the actual gourds decided on the following texture:

plate 1 -  masking tape with gaps which are scored with craft knife ,  plate 2 -  ghesso - roughly applied with varied depth and for gourds with bumpy texture - wood glue roughly applied and while wet, textured with medium carbonumdrum and plate 3 - medium texture was created by a mixture of khadi paper, watercolour paper and tissue paper

The project also requires the print to be printed on a variety of textured colours.  So I lightly coated the card left from cutting the jigsaw plates with ghesso which I intend to print with the jigsaw plates. I also had some coloured wrapping paper which are quite light in weight but have been tested for colourfastness so should be alright when dampened for printing the collograph plates.I used a mixture of mono printing, acrylic inks, and chinese ink to colour and texture a mixture of Fabriano Rospina and Somerset velvet printing paper.
The first proof - on cartridge paper - was to see if the texture worked. 
I closely followed the sketch for the plate in terms of colour and tone and was pleased to see the plates and colour were effective. One thing I was not prepared for however was that the plates did not fit each other totally - I assume this is due to the cardboard expanding due to the wet media used for the textures - glue, ghesso etc. This is quite minor but needs to be born in mind for future projects.

The first print was onto deep red hand made texture wrapping paper with a strong leaf design.
The paper was not colour fast but the tone wasn't affected much although the blotting paper was stained.   Again not a successful print because the red of the large gourd is lost against the red of the paper but I do like the red of the paper coming through in places and realise this can be utlised very effectively.  I chose not to wipe excess ink off as much as normally as I was aware that the red of the paper was very strong and was concerned that the print would not be seen which is the case.  The yellow is very thickly inked. It would have been a better print if perhaps it had just been inked in black which would have shown the texture of the gourds and shown up against the red paper.

The second print was onto the paper textured with random acrylic inks.   I think this print is the most effective. The plates were inked more lightly compared with the previously and this means that the texture from the paper comes through the print of the gourds.  This was unintentional but quite effective, but would have been better with more ink.  I have enhanced the colour in places with pastel.

The final print of the session utilised the card that the jigsaw blocks had been cut from.This was very randomly inked using colours left on the inking sheet, and the blocks were not inked from the previous print so is a ghost image. The jigsaw blocks were inserted for the printing which was on a piece of Ho-sho paper.
The print clearly shows how the plates have changed slightly in shape during the making process with white borders around some - however this shows as blind embossing which I find attractive - not appropriate for this image but on the right print could be very effective.

I used other coloured sheets,  one with chinese ink and two monoprints from previous printing sessions. The chinese ink sheet was too dark, but where excess has been blotted away, an interesting texture is left which would be very effective if the gourds had been printed in different colours. Where monoprints were used, I found the colours and patterns coming through too strongly but this could have been better utilised with prior consideration of the colours of inks being used.

Reflections

• I think the print with the collograph on top of the acrylic ink design most successful - the ink marks make almost an abstract design across, under and through the gourds which add to the texture.
•  I like the dark red paper as it comes through the collograph design - this can be exploited in various ways in the future.
• However, I feel the complicated design of the gourds needs to stand alone against a paler background, they are too complex for a textured, highly coloured background.
• more time spent on considering the background before inking the plates would have led to more successful prints.  I focussed to much on the colours of the gourds rather than the print as a whole.