Collecting Original Prints

Black and white as a theme

What is an Original Print?

Original prints, in difference to massproduced offset prints, encompass any form of printmaking where the artist has direct participation in producing the print! Surprisingly, many people do not realize that for example an etching on copper, has to be inked up, by the artist, for each and every print that is printed!

Click and see how an etching is made and printed by
Mariann Johansen-Ellis, Cascada Studios Resident Artist

2 great reasons to become a collector of Original Prints!  

1) Price - find local printmaking artists, in shops and galleries or search the world via the internet, you will be amazed at the fantastic artwork for very reasonable money that is available! Have you tried www.etsy.com ?
This is a website where artists from all over the world sell their work direct to the public, search under printmaking and the choices are wonderful, varied and very affordable! Between the website etsy and PayPal , it is also a safe place to shop online. 

2) Personality - collecting original prints for your home, puts your personality at the forefront, what hangs on your walls, is a direct reflection of you as a person! Why have a nasty offset poster,when you can have an original print? The nature of collecting prints is also such that you "never" fill the walls, as your art collection grows, you can rotate your prints. Every 6 months I change over the art I have on my walls, this way I "see" them again, and it is fun, over the years, I have collected so much, that I can now decide on my mood, just by the art I hang on my walls.

How do I start a collection?

It is easy to educate yourself in the "what am I looking at" with the help of the internet, I have a couple of favorites, that explain things very clearly
Coskun fine art gallery's website or ArtBusiness.com , you can of course find information in your own language, that helps a lot. 

The bible on collecting original prints being Rosemary Simmons "Collecting Original Prints"

It can feel a bit daunting to start off, so why not start purchases deciding on a theme - you like birds - why not bird prints then? You like abstract art, search under abstract printmaking and start from there....... it is worth having a cup of coffee and thinking things over - what do I like??? Small, Big, a certain Color, all these things narrows your search, and makes a collection look more cohesive on the wall.
Above all, it is FUN to collect art! You become more knowledgeable about art, as collecting leads to wanting to know more, and your personal taste both develop and expand!

HAPPY COLLECTING!

linocut registration - always tricky?

linocut , I have just started cutting away what is going to be white

 My latest lino reduction, I decided to do something that is not so usual for me.... that is, be fluid..... a bit loose, not think too much, but try to cut in a more organic way..... hmmmm.... not me at all... as I am a bit of a control freak, which is actually why printmaking is SO for me....
I started with the simplest of line drawings, hardly any marks at all (again, for being me;o) but I did have a clear idea in my head, that I wanted a real color fest!

lincout , first yellow color is on!

the first color on is a yellow for the mimosa blossom, those incredible little yellow balls.... I made it a very yellow, below, you can clearly see what was cut away to remain white...hardly anything......

linocut , ready for the first piece of paper

then came the second yellow, for the vase, and for the "shadows" on the mimosa blossom...... I have cut my papers with the usual precision, you want nice hard corners, and I have taped down the registration matrix to the press bed, it is easier when it does not move about...... now, I think, that hands are very important in the getting the registration right..... you need to find a way, to hold the paper, so you have total control over it.... so it can't flap about, and you feel comfortable holding it.... if you are afraid of dirty finger prints, make the paper a bit bigger, so you can cut away dirty areas without it making a difference to the print! That's a simple solution.... when you start out, make smaller prints, easier to handle smaller papers, another simple solution..... think about your subject matter, faces, have to register really well, or they look horrible... so maybe, when starting out, avoid faces..... that might not be so simple if portraits are your thing ;o) it is a simple solution though.
Why do I go on and on about simple solutions.... well, I find on giving courses, that a lot of wonderful brave people, feel that linocut reductions are an uphill struggle... and I have to agree.... if you start out big....6 colors..... lots of eyes..... then yes, it will get you down.... who said it was easy.... so....
solutions, make them simple and make them nice to yourself. That way you enjoy the learning process as much as the result, find your feet, and then do faces.... learn your new skill, and then get real prickly about registration.... but don't let a little thing like registering a piece of paper get you down..... please!

linocut , several colors down the line!

 here I have added my first blue on the bottom, and my 2 greens, and it is so evident that I should have had more mimosa blossom!!!! grrrr...so much for loose, hmmm. what ever..... oh, there are some blue blossoms to come in the middle....

linocut , drying nicely

 the colors, though, are perfect, just what I wanted..... it will be a really happy print! the vase, by the way, is printed in 2 yellows at the same time......

linocut , cutting and cutting.....

cutting away all the greens, preparing for the next to last color, the blue of the blossoms... I know by now, it's not going to work... and that, is why this post is done, because that is how it goes sometimes.... it does not work!!! It really is no big deal.... I had great fun... I found some things out.... the colors are all sorted for the next print, that's for sure.... so onwards and upwards!
oh.... the registration was really good though.... ;o)) gotta be an optimist, right!!

Collagraph , inking and printing

Collagraph , the 3 plates inked up and ready to go

Collagraph matrix

Collagraphs, are always lots of fun to do, and I use them, quite often, to kind of push start a new
round of work. Coming back from a lovely break over Christmas and New Year I thought it would be a great way of ushering in 2013!
So...what are collagraphs?:
the plate, that is later inked up and printed,  is built up by assembling and if you want gluing down
different surfaces, textures and shapes onto a piece of for example cardboard or pvc. A Collagraph is a collage prepared so that it can be inked up and printed like any other kind of printmaking, such as etchings, linocuts etc. All sorts of material can be used. The most usual are varying papers, cards and tissues but fascinating effects can be created with glues, and acrylic pastes, carborundum powder, plaster and sand. "Found objects" should be treated with some respect, when it comes to putting them through the press, but it is easy to use doilies, metal washers and embossed wallpapers, lots of things make terrific textural prints. The plates have to be sealed with varnish, for example an acrylic medium, even watered down wood glue, before they can be printed and this can make quite a tough surface into which engraved marks can also be made by scoring, cutting or using a stylus.
Because of the much greater depth of a collagraph compared with an etching for example, they carry much more ink and a wider (and sometimes unpredictable) range of purely printing effects can be achieved with collagraphs. In fact it is difficult to get exactly the same effects with each print and it is often better to regard multi-colour collagraphs as a series of monoprints rather than a uniform edition. Because the plate is usually made from softer materials than the copper and zinc of etching, collagraph plates wear much more rapidly and so the editions are very small, as a rule.

I decided to make my contribution to an upcoming group exhibition, with the theme, "Los Hombres",
or "Men" as a collagraph, I already had an idea for some sort of fish print, as I love the blues that can be had by layering plates on top of each other. I cut the human shape, little penis and all, from a simple piece of cardboard, applied a bit of putty filler for texture, left it to dry and then varnished it with acrylic medium. With a knife I then cut 2 shallow parallel lines where the head meets the shoulder and the legs meet and peeled off the cardboard top layer, knowing this will take a bit more ink and so print like a diffuse line.

Collagraph matrix and long piece of paper stuck under the press roller

I start by inking up the 3 plates I have prepared for the water, and the fish , which is prepared on a separate piece of cardboard, together with the eye, which is also a separate piece. The fish, and the first 2 plates are all cardboard, that has been textured in various ways, with puttyfiller, with masking tape and then varnished with acrylic medium. If I did not varnish, the cardboard would take so much ink, that the collagraph tends to get very undefined.... it can be used though, if that is what you are looking for.....
I ink them up with etching inks that have been heavily oiled down, so they are very easy to apply.
Don't worry about too much oil, you learn quickly doing it, if the ink is easy to use, and you feel you are in control of  the amount of ink left on the plate, then it's perfect. Extender can of course also be used, as with many things in printmaking, you use what you get used to, or what you always have at hand.
I use dabbers, made from rags, or from old tarlatan, and also brushes are used, to work the ink into all the crevices. For example on the fish, the scales had to be inked with the help of a brush. I then wipe the plates, with tarlatan,  just like I would an etching, until I have the amount of ink left that I want.
The 2 plate is a piece of thin pvc, that I of course could make marks on if I wanted to, scratch, cut etc... but in this case, all it does is carry the last oriental blue that brings the print together.

Collagraph , first plate printed,second plate placed on matrix

collagraph, use talcum to block unwanted ink on the matrix

I put the matrix, which is long enough to be put under the rollers, on the press, I have drawn up the position of the plates and the figure, I then put the piece of printmaking paper on top of the matrix and put printing pressure on the roller, so the matrix and the paper is "stuck" in place for the whole printing process, this makes printing multi plates very easy, as I only fold up the paper onto the roller, place the next plate, put the paper down again, knowing, that each time the plate and paper registers perfectly (well... in theory at least, make a fuss and it will :o)
The left over bit of paper, can, if you handles it gently, be used for a separate print, it does not need to go to waste.
I print the first plate, a light blue color and I print the figure. (on the matrix, you can see the figure in brown, from the proofing I did) After printing, with the help of a big bulb of cotton wool, apply talcum powder to the matrix, so no residual ink prints off on the next turn through the press, (watch you don't get talcum on the inked plates, it blocks the ink!) I line up the second plate on the matrix, a cardboard plate with "waves" of masking tape, the masking tape prints different in texture to the rest, so the waves are visible in the final print.

Collagraph , Last plate placed on matrix

I have printed the 2 first plates, and have the last plate to go, the piece of pvc which has been inked and wiped. Look at the previous photos, you can see the white lines round the scales for example. Much of the reason I use several plates, is that I don't have to worry about height differences in the first plate or 2, as later plates "inks" those white areas, that I, personally, don't like to see.

Collagraph, final print

Here the print is done, "El peligro de ser Macho" , "The danger of being Male" , all the little variations in the plates show up, giving the print a depth that is hard to get from other printmaking methods. Collagraphs can be very subtle and very detailed, all depending on time spent on them. I like to make multi plates, as I think the richness I get from that, is why I do collagraphs..... and not as many as I should, I might add...... the short editions, tend to make them more fun and play for me, than serious work, but as play and fun, some of my best ideas, have come from a totally messy studio, cutting and pasting and drilling, and messing about....... and I have learnt lots from it, that I then apply to my etchings and to my linocuts..... so from that perspective, these are my printmaking courses for myself!
Mariann Johansen-Ellis, runs Cascada Studio, in Andalucia in Spain, where she gives printmaking courses on a regular basis. Visit www.artcanbefun.com for more information.

Art and Money

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Mariann Johansen Ellis: Art and Money

Mariann Johansen Ellis: Etsy photos - what's good and what's bad?

click on the link below to go to my "other" blog, xx


Mariann Johansen Ellis: Etsy photos - what's good and what's bad?

Give away...... or no give away??

Hens linocut reduction

not that long ago, I had a draw for this lino reduction and the winner........ never got in touch with me??? So this is your last chance, as I think, hmmmm, not so fair to the rest, so I'll do the draw again and find a new winner!!
Does this mean you can enter the draw.... sure..... :o)

Etching your Aquatint, timing is important!

Aquatint etching by Mariann Johansen-Ellis

If you are one of those people, like me, who stand there looking at your plate in the acid, thinking,
"a bit more is better", then think again! When it comes to aquatint, I think this is the most common mistake when you start out, to simply overdo the timing in the acid!
In Ferric Chloride at 15 degrees Baume, you should need no more than 30 sec for the first tone,
add a minute for the second tone, add 2 minutes for the next tone and finish off with maybe 2 - 3 more minutes for your really darks. Try this and you will see that it is much easier to be successful....
I have to confess, to having succumbed to the "more is better" (true to my nature) and forgetting that not in this case. Back on the straight and narrow now, and getting good results again.......
The Baume thermometer ( is it can be called that?) is also a really good investment for measuring the strength of your acid, when I started out doing etching, I used nitric acid and was forever fiddling about with adding a bit more, no, too strong, a bit more water in a very non technical way. Temperature had a lot to do with results etc etc...... so switching to the much more environmentally friendly, and above all, fume free ferric chloride, was great. It does not "go off", in the same way, it is very dependable and you know exactly how long to leave your plate in.
Nitric acid, still has a place in my studio though, (yep, non toxic it ain't!!) for biting out a plate or for relief work...... I am a bit confounded that the use of acid is now like the devil appearing.... non toxic is great, I am all for it, if it gives me the results I want! There is a place for the non toxic as well, it has to be treated with great respect , not fear and panic making, and has to be utilized and disposed of in a correct way. None of this is difficult, there are places that come and get your old acid to neutralize and dispose of it in a proper manner. Keeping acid in your studio, does not make your teeth fall out, or your fingers drop off, unless you are handling it in a very stupid way. So in my quiet little out of the way Cascada Studio, I keep my acid close by, stored properly, maybe even over safely knowing it is a dangerous, but for me, necessary tool in my printmaking endeavour.

Hen picked, linocut reduction

Linocut reduction in 7 colors "Pecking Order"

Busy weekend, with a lot of rain coming down, it was the perfect occasion to spend the whole weekend in the studio, preparing and printing a new linocut. I am a bit farm at this time, hens,
rustic, country life, the images keep coming, and I would love to find the time to make some more prints on this theme.... as well as kitchen, maybe because I am starting the renovation of a new house, and hey, we have not even started knocking the walls down, before I am thinking of what to hang on the new ones :o))) well.... for me, a wall, is for hanging art, a a rainy weekend is for creating it!
My bulging washing basket begs to disagree, the perfect artist life would be, hmmm, well, naked I guess, as I find washing such a bore...... although...hmmmm..... have not tried that as a lino reduction....... :o)

Draw is finally done!!

linocut reduction with hens , "Scratch"

Thank you so much for your patience!! the Draw...(that I had completely forgotten about, yes, it is sad, but true...... that's what happens when there is tooooo much to do.....) is done, and lovely Francesca Whetnall has won the draw!! Congratulations, and look forward to hearing from you!

linocut reductions at Cascada Studio

Linocut reduction with fish "Big Blue"

after a super weekend of exhibition with ceramist  Agneta Larsen it is straight back to work for yours
truly, my new linocut with fish , the "Big Blue" is done, a 6 color linocut reduction, in a couple of variations is ready to be numbered and signed and go on sale in my etsy shop , next is printing more Christmas cards, and a couple of fun people in the studio learning some printmaking, a busy busy November ahead, before I hang my work in the Town Hall in Mijas for the month of December.
No time to sleep!! Lovely!!

Good intentions!

Tree of Life, linocut on handmade paper

I had all the good intentions in the world about blogging at least once a week, and really practical printmaking, and yes, I am going to, and no I haven't yet ;o)))
Why? I am in a very very creative phase, working away, putting out my little "Please, Don't Disturb" sign outside my door, as I live very centrally, and just getting down to the nitty gritty of turning out some new work!
So this is a little excuse, and it is also a little explanation, and more than anything it is in the knowledge that tyou know exactly what I mean, sometimes you have to just GO......
back soon ........

Linoreduction, last 2 passes

cutting the last of the dark greens away

finally, down to cutting away the last of the dark greens, the plate is getting "sloppier" and harder to handle, think about that when positioning it in the matrix for printing, that it is in the right place.....
this time I have "lined" the matrix with brown tape, why? because, with a bigger piece of paper, it does make it easier as the paper slides better into position on the tape, than it does on the bare cardboard.

favorite at the moment colour, and Becky giving the basket a good whipping!

inking up the last colour, the one that makes it all come together (hopefully ;o) right now, I am in love with dark aubergine... it gives a lovely finish, sometimes black is not the thing, it depends of course on the print very much...... I am fickle when it comes to colours.... favorites slide in and out of use.

first finished print off the press

and here it is, the first finished print off the press, not gonna rock the world, but I am happy, it has come out very nice, and I like it.
Remember when you ink up so many colours, that if it goes quite fast with the colours, and they don't have time to dry totally in between, you can get previous colours transferring back onto the plate, making the last colour not so dense as you might wish, now, I like this, I like the peeping through of colours, but not everybody does, the answer to this is of course to clean the plate in between printings, or... wait for the ink to dry more before applying the last inking.
I can see that the plate lends itself to cutting out the hens to make something with...... I always have a look at the plate, even if the plate as a whole does not work anymore, parts of it might, bits of it can be great in a collagraph or monoprint.....
I am doodling around with materials other than cardboard for the matrix, it does "extend" a little bit in the printing process, and the hole becomes a bit bigger, but I still prefer it, as rarely are any of my plates the same size, which makes the use of wood, or plastic, a lot more expensive.... there is always a trade off between easy and difficult in printmaking..... part of what makes it so fun!
Happy printing!

Linocut reduction, algarrobo and hens, part 2

blue and gray goes on

day 2 of my linoreduction, which is starting to be called "somebody has to be the boss" was a real knuckle down day and get on with it...... first thing in the morning, I rolled up the bright blue and the soft gray in one go....following on yesterdays several colours experiment, that I quite liked... of course, I should have realised that you would see them through, duhhh.... sometimes printmaking makes me laugh, you think you've got it.....hmmmm... sounds awfully like golf doesn't it?

third run through the press

so in a bit of a tizzy about seeing the colours, what do to but revert to good old inking up the whole plate.... well, not so much a tizzy, as a wanting to take advantage of the light green in many places.
As a good little artist, I should of course have coloursampled etc.... to see how things go together, if they cover right, if they blend good, and all that... but I am a bad little artist in that respect, I just go for it and correct as I am printing, I kind of like that.... it teaches me something new every time, every print, every colour , all stored away in that mental log book of mine, (see part one for that ramble) for future use.....

the RED

inking up the plate in red, felt like I saw it for the first time

 most of the time, when doing reduction printing, somewhere in the middle, I loose heart, it does not look like anything, it does not feel right, I doubt my ability to make the right colours come true, and all that stuff..... but weirdly, and thankfully, rolling up the plate in red, it kind of revealed itself, showed itself to me for the first time, and I thought DARN..... if I had inked it up once in red before I cut away the light green leaves, I could have pulled some prints only in red, as it had a very finished look, and would have felt good at that stage as a free standing print.... but TOO LATE! the leaf stems on the cut away light green leaves just looked silly..... arrgh

mid green goes on

and yes, here it is...mid way doubts hmmmm, naw.... don't know..... really?
My only advice at this stage is: STOP THINKING, and just do........ there is no other way past this point..... I call it my "believe in miracles stage"  in a reduction print.....
oh, and the good registrations were going faster than Fosters at an Aussie barbie..... not so fun! Think 4 colours in a long day might have been to blame!
Tomorrow is a new day, and tomorrow is finish day......:o)) See you then!

Linocut reduction printing, ink management

inking up the first 3 colours in one go

Starting on my new lino reduction, I decided to try something new (for me) and ink up the 3 first colours all in one go, and this made me think of ink management! Ink management I can hear you say, what the heck would that be a in a creative world?? Well... I use it a lot, deciding in a very controled way how much ink to apply to the plate as it goes through the stages, you are in charge of the roller, remember, it is not in charge of you, you decide how much ink to roll up, you decide on where to put it, and you also decide on what pressure to put the plate through the press..... all of these things play a part in the finished print.
A lot of times, newcomers to the world of lino reductions, look at the roller like there is a little gremlin living in it, that applied too much ink (messy) or too little ink (nothing) or uneven, stripy, blotchy, yes, there are many variations of applying ink ;o)) Sorry, no gremlin, just you...... so I always talk about the internal logbook you need to keep as a printmaker, the log book you refer to, when you wonder if there is enough ink on the roller, the sound the roller makes when it is perfect, the look of the ink on the roll up board, ( it looks like finest sandpaper) and you store that way.... so that next time, you can open your log and look back and use that knowledge, that experience...... it takes a while to get used to constantly be thinking whilst you work, there are so many things to remember,
not least the darn b-ggery registration.....  but try... really try... make written notes, although I find that  irritating and that it breaks my rhytm, but this is about you... about you finding a way, a method of storing what you learn as you print, a conscious, thought out storing file cabinet for all the stuff that is needed when it comes to printing a 6 - 7 - 7 or maybe even 10 colour lino reduction. I know, it is easy for me to say, I do this every day (almost), and repetition of course, makes you better at it, but still, a log book...... give it a try!

the lino plate inked

 I decided to not be so fiddly about the colours but seeing a little bit what would happen if I inked it up quite loose with overlaps etc.....

the print after the first run through the press

 This is the first print, the marker, that I draw with on the lino, tends to lift off on the first pieces of paper, but gets covered eventually as the ink application continues.

tomorrow....... great strides with 4 colours in one day!! See you......

My first, but not last give away!

3 color lino reduction for sale in my etsy shop!

Participate in my first Printmaking in Spain give away! Just become a follower of my new blog,
and you are in the draw!! :o) Mariann

Registration of linocut reductions

my now quite old film about linocut reduction is still the way I register a linocut..... and it works great!

Printmaking tips from Spain

normal soysauce applied with a soft sponge

you can clearly see where the soy sauce has not been!

When doing aquatint, at Cascada Studio, as a student, I tend to ask, that you proof the plate in between all the various tones, this is quite cumbersome, but done for a couple of reasons:
1) If new to aquatint, you get to see the print "build up"
2) You get to apply the aquatint more than just once
3) You get to proof the plate, as in using the press, inking up, wetting
paper etc, all to go in your little mental logbook for later, when you come to the editioning.

When we degrease the plate the first time, I use pumice powder, quick and clean and environmentally safe.
For subsequent degreasing, I brought back a tips from Asia, I use soy sauce, that's right, I apply a coat of soy sauce to the plate with a soft sponge and work it in, this is a super gentle way of degreasing,

Aquatint etching

that does not interfere with even the finest of aquatints! And again, readily available, clean, environmentally safe, and oh.... god for marinating chicken wings!! :o)