Collograph Printmaking Class

- June 12, 2022

The Utah Division of Arts and Museums Creative Aging Program in collaboration with South Salt Lake City Arts Council and Saltgrass Printmakers offered a Collograph Printmaking Class to people 55 and older. The class was being taught by one of my favorite printmakers, Stefanie Dykes, so I signed up immediately. It was six weeks of joyful making that flew by. We ended the class with a show at the Columbus center in South Salt Lake City.

Stefanie Dykes

Hi! It's me!

Collograph is a process of printmaking where a textured plate is inked up and put through a printing press.

One of my first plates, created with paper and tape.
It was inspired by the painting below.

The bumpy packing paper I used for the circles.
It came in a package my daughter-in-law received.

My first print on a piece of shibori dyed raw silk

I carved a stamp of hands sewing for my piece.

I applied dry wall paste to a piece of book board and then pressed the stamp in to the paste.
It held the image perfectly.
I used a couple of pen caps to create the circles around the stamped image.
Once the paste was dry, I sealed it with shellac.

A few of my final plates.
Top: stamp pressed into dry wall paste; quilted fabrics sealed with gel medium
Middle: Plate from a few photos up; paper cut into hexagons and then stitched on sewing machine before sealing with gel medium.
Bottomish: Cotton yarn Crocheted and then sealed with gel medium; cross stitch and embroidery on burlap, Mistyfused to book board and then sealed with gel medium.

Stefanie putting my fabric and plates through the press while I filmed.

My plates printed on three different pieces of raw silk.
I experimented on linen, cotton and silk and ended up liking the shibori dyed raw silk best. After printing, and letting it dry for a few days I added some simple embroidery stitches.