Collagraph Fun!!

Printmaking involves the creation of a master plate from which multiple images are made. The artist chooses a surface to be the plate. This could be linoleum, styrofoam, metal, cardboard, stone or any one of a number of materials. Then the artist prepares the printing plate by cutting, etching or drawing an image onto the plate. Ink is applied (in a variety of ways) and paper is pressed onto the plate either by hand or by way of a hand-run printing press. The finished print is pulled from the plate.

Collagraph plates are created by sticking and gluing materials like textured paper or fabric onto the plate. This is the 3-D form of collage making because the materials are slightly raised off the surface and called a relief.

Students had an opportunity to create collagraph plates of their own design using materials such as corrugated cardboard, fabric, buttons, thick cardstock and more. After creating their master plate, students printed their designs in a few colors.

This years 4th-grade students had an opportunity to create collagraph plates of their own design using materials such as corrugated cardboard, fabric, buttons, thick card stock, string, bubble wrap and more. After creating their master plate, students printed their designs in a few colors and on various surfaces.