Inspiration Avenue: Collography Keys

When I first read that Hettiene had chosen keys for her first Inspiration Avenue challenge, my thoughts immediately went to this altered book spread. But I have shown this spread on my blog before and wanted something new this week.

As I was contemplating what I would make for this challenge, my mind raced to the keys I keep in my studio for just this purpose. Then I nearly tripped over my collographic plate I had placed behind a door in my studio that was made using old keys. If you are not sure what a collographic plate is, it is a water resistant plate used for printing. I showed the process here. Since today is officially the first day of autumn, I thought I would work on this technique outside.




Supplies from back left clockwise:

Bowl of water (to remove excess paint from plate)
Pearl Glaze
Paint brush
Collographic plate
Paper to print on
Paper towels (for cleaning the plate)


As I was about to begin, I realized I had not brought anything to place the glaze in, so I went inside and grabbed a used cup.


I brushed a bit of glaze on the keys,


then laid the paper face down on the painted plate, and gently pressed. Unlike fabric, which is all I've used in the past, paper will absorb the paint easier, so I had to be careful to not press too hard. It also made taking a photo while pressing on the paper while the paint was still wet, a bit difficult.


Unfortunately, I don't think I got very good coverage on this piece.


So I tried twice more, then cleaned the plate before the paint could dry on the plate this time (unlike when I allowed paint to bake on the plate earlier this year in the hot summer sun).


I got one decent print (the middle one in the above photo), although I must admit, I prefer this technique using fabric and paint or Shiva/Markal paint sticks.

If keys are your thing, you might want to join the Inspiration Avenue challenge this week, or simply stop by and see how other participants interpreted Hettiene's challenge.