I have been playing around with collagraphs again, it's a printmaking technique I really want to explore more and I love the textural prints I get from this type of technique.
To seal the collagraph plates I usually use Liquitex Gloss Medium (for acrylics). I would apply this in several layers on the plate, so that if I want to clean it after printing I can do so without damaging the plate (which is made of cardboard). Unfortunately with this technique some of the textures in collagraphs are lost - since the medium is somewhat thick.
So I explored a bit online and came across another medium printmakers use to seal collagraph plates: shellac. This actually preserves a bit better the textures in the collagraph since it is a thinner medium.
I have tested it out in the prints below and I am quite happy with the result - the prints above were done from a plate protected with shellac.
You can see below the plate, protected with shellac (I really the golden tone the shellac gives to the plate!) and the sketch in which this print was based on.
At some point I will probably print this again, since I didn't really make an edition, I just made some test prints.
Thanks for stopping by!
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