Update on collagraphs - 'fails'

The image above is a section from the collagraph I am working on.

This was the first version of printing. I used 50% transparent medium and two pipette drops of drying agent and used the largest of the rollers. The roller is about 1.5 feet long and covered nearly the whole of the collagraph plate. The inking process took seconds as it only took one roll over, however, to get the ink to the correct consistency it took around 20-30 minutes. The velvety texture was achieved, however, the problems with this method were that any highly raised textures were inked by all areas around it weren't and that any textures the roller rolled over were consiquently picked up and printed further down the plate. This was interesting but inconvenient if this is not the desired result.

The first image lead on to the opposite process of inking up then removing excess or unwanted ink.

I used the same ink in this print, however, I wiped away excess ink. I found that using the aluminium plate altered the way in which I print - I have done 7 prints in the meantime and have discovered that the aluminium holds little ink and it very easy to wipe it from. I have used easy wipe, however, this has hindered the progress.

After this print I decided to increase the amount of ink left on the plate and stopped adding the extender medium.