Alrighty,
So I tested out each of the 3 plates onto news print paper in the size of the rag paper that I was going to use.
I felt that the bottom one needed something more in the background, the brick pattern in the back got lost, I don't know where that plate went?? Its lost to the gods of the print room.
I also felt the red and the black need to have more of a sequence instead of being the same over all.
Here's some process images, Collagraph is very messy, gloves were a must.
I used red intaglio ink for the red, obviously, with a toothbrush pushing it in and wiping back with tarlatan (Tarlatan is the mesh that they use to bind books together.) I then used black relief ink on a roller to hit the high points of the plates with black.
Then with intaglio you need to soke the paper to draw the ink out when you print it.
Once my paper has been sitting the the bath for about 10-15 mins I take it out and blot it with news print to take away the shine. Then using a registration sheet I prepared earlier I set up the plates and then carefully put my blotted paper on top, sent it though the printing press and hey presto, I got a print. I repeated that 2 more times and I got my tryptic.
Once I had all 3 printed I felt this one here needed something in the background. I was going to use empty Metformin pill packets. But in moving house I found my faux gold leaf, and thought that would add much much more to the prints. I used the packets as stamps painting the leafing size onto the blisters then stamping that onto the paper, letting that dry and then adding the gold leaf on. I used a lot of different sized pill packets to create an interesting pattern. The gold leaf also adds to the feel I wanted for the prints.
Trying to evoke this sort of feeling with the prints.
Once I had the gold leaf on, I sewed the pages together and used a random piece of metal that I found as a spacer between the pages so the would evenly be spaced. I then sewed loops to the top to hang from and the prints are done!!
Oh I also added frottage onto the second print and added sewn details to the paper sort of like embroidery.
Out of everything I created in this half or the semester these prints are the favourite art I've created. Its loud, gratuitous, gaudy, but has a story that goes deeper than the surface level. Its a large work that took a lot of planning and thought and I am proud of that.
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