Collograph printing at ECA

I told you about this label project I assigned myself. I needed three labels, one for my Almanac (a.k.a. Diary), for which I used linocut on the rubber carving substrate (which I hated). I'm not sure I showed it to you finished, so here it is.
I also needed a label for my Tricksters book and the box they went into. I wanted to create all the labels using various methods of printing. I showed you the box label, created using wood-block letters. And above is the linocut label for the Almanac. For my hand-made Tricksters book, I decided to try collograph.
      You've probably done collograph before... In kindergarten, you may have glued macaroni to a piece of cardboard, lacquered it, then put paint all over it, and done a relief print with paper. It's a fun thing to do. But this method is a little more, *ahem*, grown up.
     First I created my plate using Evo board. I cut out the word "Tricksters" (the name of my 'big' project). I traced it onto the board and cut off the top layer of paper. Then I took the cut out paper version and glued it above. Then I lacquered the front and back to seal it up. Sounds complicated, but it will make sense in a second...
     While I was lacquering my board, a hair fell onto it. I decided I loved the line it created and painted it in permanently! (Gotta love happy accidents!) Then I inked it up, trying to match that caramel paper I've been using. It looked like this. (Now you can see those cut out letters.) My plate was gorgeous, but very subtle. We weren't sure it was going to work.
     I put paper over it and used the very high-tech method of rubbing a wooden spoon over the back. The first one actually turned out beautifully. So did the second and third. I was thrilled!

     I promised I'd share the end results and here they are... the box, the Almanac, and the Trickster book - all with their handmade labels: wood block letter press, linocut, and collograph. LOVE it!

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