Fish Salmon Collagraph

This is the largest print I have produced on my Gunning Printing Press.

Want to know how I made my Salmon Collagraph?

My first job was to prepare the paper for printing and this was put into a water bath for about 20 minutes, paper was blotted and placed into a damp pack to keep it damp and ready for printing.

I created a life size sketch of the salmon and then traced it onto the cardboard to create a plate. I did a lot of experimental carving into the cardboard and covered the cardboard plate with other mediums to give it a relief surface.

The next step was to coat the plate with a shellac varnish to protect it from getting too wet. I then scraped and pushed the etching ink with a cloth called scrim in a circular motion.

After that I used newsprint paper to wipe away excess ink and polished it. I wanted to keep some white areas clean and free from ink so I used a cloth and cotton buds to help wipe away the inky areas.

Edition - Limited edition of 5 prints
Paper - White Somerset Satin 250gsm
Colour - Black
Size - A2  56.5cm - 38cm