I have worked on collagraph plates before but not with encaustic wax. A collagrah plate is a printmaking plate that has texture in the design. Then the plate is inked and a print is pulled, then more or different inks and more printing.
This is my plate which is a plexiglass plate that I etched some lines into and then using the wax and heating tools I built up my plate. I took the picture on paper so you could see the design.
This is the first print I pulled from the plate. Using a plain plexi plate I inked it up with the grey ink and manipulated the ink with a cloth and q tips making the white swirls. The collagraph plate was inked with a dark blue ink and then wiped to leave ink in the textured areas. The background plate is printed first and the plates are swapped and the collagraph plate is printed on top of the first prints.
This is the second print with a different color and manipulated background but using the same color on the collagraph plate. Again using the double drop technique, printing two plates on one sheet of paper.
The plates and prints are 8" x 8" The design at the bottom of the plate was made using a doily made by my grandma Ethel.
This print was done by using the blue ink that was left on the collagraph plate and top rolling a peachy color over the plate. The back ground plate was also top rolled with a rosy color over the ink that was left form the first run through the press. Again a double drop print.
Check out elisewagner.com and davidaclarkstudio.com to see some of their great works and their workshop schedule.
David does Encaustic monoprints and we are planning on a return trip to Palm Springs for another adventure in his studio.
