Learning about woodcut and chîne collé

I did this course partly because I’ve admired both woodcut prints and prints with chîne collé by others, including Jo Bourne who was teaching the course. Also, as these can be done without a printing press, I thought it would be useful to learn about them before winter ice means Ineed to make prints at home.

The other people on the course were lovely, and we had the company at breaks of the screenprinting on textiles course people & their tutor Jan Baxandall, which was enjoyable.

I had found this the most difficult workshop so far for which to prepare images beforehand that could be suitable to turn into woodcuts. It’s a method that requires thinking in areas of colour and a graphic, stylised image can work best. I took several images and asked Jo for advice on which to try.

I was rather slow on cutting my plate, but eventually got as far as printing it before the end of day 1. The press we used was a splendid 1866 one.

On the 2nd day, I decided to try a different image. This meant I didn’t have time to do a 2nd plate to print in 2 colours + more colours in chîne collé but I think it worked much better as a woodcut image. The mouth of the Ouseburn one was a bit too fiddly for the scale (A5) but could work well on a larger plate, and I might still try cutting into it a bit more and adding a second block.

Mouth of the Ouseburn – 1st print from the woodcut.

Mouth of the Ouseburn, woodcut on Kozo paper with chîne collé in pink and blue Korean paper.

Mouth of the Ouseburn woodcut with red and green chîne collé in tissue paper

Carousel horse, 1st print on Kozo paper in a dark grey ink.

Carousel horse with chîne collé in pink Korean paper and yellow tissue paper.

Carousel horse with blue and ochre ink, chîne collé in yellow tissue & pink Korean paper.

Carousel horse in ochre & blue ink, chîne collé in yellow tissue & pink Korean paper.

Carousel horse in blue & ochre ink, chîne collé in yellow & black with holographic dots tissue paper.

Carousel horse in green ink, chîne collé in yellow tissue and black tissue with holographic dots tissue paper.

At the end of the course, I concluded that it had been a great way to spend a weekend, that I had more prints than I expected, that I rather liked all my prints, that I really liked everyone else’s prints (the textiles printing also turned out well on the other course). And I concluded that I need to buy some cutting tools, some non-slip mat, a proper roller, clear space to have a worktop at home I can roll ink on, and buy some oil-based printing ink and more Japanese ply.

I could do with 10 times as much energy and time to put into practice all that I’ve learned about printmaking this year!

Drypoint printing 1st week of September 2014

Maling Hylton shape 1 drypoint plate

Maling Whitby shape 2 drypoint plate

Maling ware drypoint plates ready to ink up in studio

Maling ware Whitby shape drypoint print torn.

Following the drypoint course at Northern Print, my head was buzzing with ideas, and having obtained sheets of card plate and a basic etching needle, I was ready to start work and prepare several plates for a whole day in the studio on 2nd September. I was looking forward to getting quite a lot of printing done.

I had prepared 5 card drypoint plates at home before going to the Northern Print studio to print them. The card has a shiny plasticised surface on one side, and one scratches through or can tear it off. It can be a bit unpredictable in how it tears. Sometimes the texture of the card seems to send a line a little askew. It can be easy to make holes in the card.

I used images from an old Maling ware catalogue as the source material for the jug and bowl prints. The Maling company first opened in Sunderland in 1762 and moved to Ouseburn in Newcastle in 1817, closing finally in 1963. As I’ve mentioned before, I became involved more closely with the Ouseburn area a couple of years ago and hope eventually to have a studio in the area. I am interested in the historic and historical remains in the valley, especially the glass works and potteries.

I first tried these images when participating in the Ouseburn Community project, and wanted to try them again with a different printing method. On the first ones I printed out, the paper was sticking to the plate too firmly, tearing when removed even as carefully as possible (example bottom right above). Whilst the torn prints have an interesting texture that suggests worn, abraded surfaces that implies a heritage with vanishing material remains (an aspect of Ouseburn that interests me), I did want some non-torn prints. I sought advice from Helen, the Studio Printmaker, and she suggested trying a different paper. I found that the different paper and keeping it a bit damper resulted in prints that didn’t stick too much.

The prints had a more embossed effect than I was expecting from card plates, due to the very sticky ink lifting the surface of the paper even when it did not stick firmly enough to tear it.

I had tried the yellow ink first because I knew I wanted my carousel prints in yellow. I had time to try just one print off the first carousel plate (somewhat nervously after all the time I’d put into making it) on 2nd September, and thought it looked promising.

Large carousel drypoint plate 1

First print off the large carousel plate on 2nd September 2014.

I decided to make another small carousel plate to print in yellow as well for my next session in the studio on 6th September, and was glad I did.

Small carousel tracing from my photo to transfer to the drypoint plate.

Small carousel drypoint plate.

Second print off the large carousel plate (photo taken while still very damp & not lying flat).

First print off the small carousel plate.

Having printed a few of the carousels, I decided to change to Prussian blue and print the two plates I had not had time to print during my first day in the studio that week.

ES1 locomotive 3 drypoint plate

Drypoint print of the ES 1 locomotive, designed early 1900s for the freight line going through and under Ouseburn to the Quayside.

Young gull tracing from my photo to transfer essential lines to plate.

Young gull 1 drypoint plate

Young gull drypoint print.