Lesson video

Hello everyone, welcome back to lesson four out of five of our printmaking unit.

Today's lesson, we're going to be making a special type of print called a collagraph.

I'll tell you lots more about it as we go through our lesson.

It's quite a challenging lesson today, printmakers, but I think given all the work that you've done up till now, I think you're ready for it.

Let's get started.

In today's lesson we're going to draw a design for a printing block or stamp.

We're going to create a printing block using textures which is called a collagraph.

And we're going to find most effective ways to add paint to our collagraph stamp.

And as we go, we're going to adapt and change our work as needed.

That's what real professional artists do, print makers and it's going to be important as part of our lesson today, I'll talk you through it as we go.

For the lesson today, you'll need the some of the same equipment that we've had in the previous lessons.

So you'll need some paper, some glue, your scissors, you'll need some cardboard scraps today.

The best type of cardboard to use is this type that we used in lesson three, which is the corrugated thicker cardboard.

But see what you can find.

You'll need some liquid paint any type of liquid or squeeze paints will be fine for today.

You'll need a felt tip or a marker pen, any colour, it doesn't matter.

And you'll need a paint brush.

But if you don't have a paint brush you only have a spongy brush or a roller, that will be absolutely fine as well.

And then you're going to need to find some small scraps of objects around your home.

Things like string and wool, other little scraps of corrugated cardboard work best or textured paper or even scrunched up paper would do.

Those are the sorts of things you find.

You only need tiny pieces.

We have some new star words today.

Let's recap some of our previous words first together.

Say them after me.

Printmaking.

Stamp.

Texture.

Motif, can you remember what motif meant from lesson three? That's right, it meant a shape that's used in a pattern for printmaking.

We have two new star words today as well.

Collage and collagraph.

Well, we're going to be making a collagraph stamp.

So I'll tell you what that means a bit more in a moment.

But collage, you would have heard of before.

It means assembling things and sticking them down onto a surface, doesn't it? A collagraph is a bit like a collage.

I'll tell you some more.

So collagraph is really a printing stamp that is a three dimensional collage.

So the surface is textured and slightly raised.

So when you print, if you have a look at my pictures on the screen, you end up printing the textures that you've stuck down onto your stamp.

Can you spot something that's unusual about the two images? Have a look at them for a moment.

That's right, the print from the same stamp is reversed.

It's back to front because the stamp has been flipped over.

Can you remember what the word texture meant from our first lesson? Did it mean the feel of a surface or did it mean how hard you press down to make a print? Have a think and tell me the answer.

That's right, texture means the feel of a surface.

So you might feel the bumps on maybe a knitted jumper.

That's the texture of that jumper.

Or a fluffiness of your teddy, that's the texture too.

We're going to need to use textures today for our collagraph surface so that we print the textures.

Okay, we're ready to get started.

So our first task is to design our collagraph stamp.

Now I've used two things.

I've used the letter from my name, a capital T for Mrs. Tong.

And I've used a few of the most simple patterns from my sketchbook, from my previous lessons.

So I've used some stripes and some spots again.

You'll need to use quite simple shapes today.

Simple motifs, because a collagraph doesn't need lots and lots of detail.

The detail in a collagraph is, comes from the textures of the pieces that you add to it.

First, we're going to draw our design onto a piece of our cardboard.

Now the best cardboard to use is the thicker corrugated cardboard if you have it.

I have a short video for you to watch, to show you how I made the design for my stamp.

Have a look at that.

Hi printmakers, I'm going to show you the next part of our process which is making a collagraph stamp.

So I've chosen two parts to my design.

The first part is the letter here in the middle for my name, T for Mrs. Tong.

Then I've chosen some of the patterns that I really liked from our first few lessons.

So I've chosen the spots and circles.

And also I'd like to add some stripes to my letter.

So I'm going to draw in some stripes like this.

They may not look exactly like that on the final print but it gives me an idea of how I want them to be.

I might change my mind and make them go diagonal, but we'll see later on.

So you need a nice strong piece of cardboard for this part about the size of your hand, and then you need to draw your design onto it with your pen.

Now, my letter is going to print really easily because it's a symmetrical letter.

It's the same on both sides.

In fact, if I fold my piece of cardboard you can see that it's symmetrical and the same.

If you had a different letter in your name, for example, you had a letter R in your name.

It will be a little bit trickier because when you print, your letter will be back to front.

But there's a very clever tip that you can use to make sure it's the right way round.

So all you need to do is to draw your letter onto your piece of paper in a nice, big, bold writing.

And then we're simply going to cut it out.

It doesn't even need to be very carefully cut because this is just to show you which way round your letter is going to go.

You don't have to be too careful at this stage.

And I don't even need to cut the piece out at the middle.

Then you need to take your piece of cardboard for your stamp, and you need to take your letter and put it the wrong way round.

It looks very strange and it doesn't quite feel right, does it? You're used to writing it the correct way round, but I promise you it needs to be the wrong way at the moment.

So I began to then draw around my little template that I've made.

And if I hold it up to the light, can you see the where the little hole is in it, which direction it's facing? And I can just copy that onto my cardboard.

That way then when you print your letter, it will print the correct way round.

So the letter R will be facing this way.

Like this.

That's what you need to do at the moment.

Make your design onto your cardboard and then I'll take you through the next stage.

Okay, you're ready to pause the video now to have a go at designing your stamp.

Remember, try and use your, the letter from your name because that will be a nice strong motif to use for your stamp.

Also, you can use your stamp over and over again.

So it might be something that you want to use for maybe cards or pictures that you would like to show or give to friends and family.

Then you'll also need to find some basic pattern motifs to use around your letter if you're going to use a letter.

Okay, pause the video now, off you go.

Well done, so you've got your design ready.

Can you hold it up to the camera so I can see it please? Fantastic, they look really good.

Remember to check those parts where you've got too much detail because they won't come out on your stamp.

You'll see what I mean in a moment, I'll talk you through it.

Next task is to start to stick down the parts and the bits and bulbs that we've got for texture onto our printing stamp.

Can you see the picture here in front of you? You can see that I've stuck down some pieces of plastic and cardboard and some straws and corrugated paper.

I've got another video in a moment that will show you how I did that.

You can see that they're all stuck down really well.

I can, you can see still some of the glue on it.

That's my top tip for the day.

Make sure that everything is stuck down very, very well.

It doesn't matter what type of glue you use but use plenty of it and let it dry completely before you try printing with your stamp.

Okay, I have a little video again now of how I stuck down the textures onto my piece of cardboard to make my printing stamp today.

Okay, we're ready for our next step.

So we're going to stick the textures onto our stamp so that we can make a collagraph stamp.

So we've got our design here in front of us and you're going to need some glue either a glue stick like this, or I've got some runny glue in this little lid here, in this little pot.

And I've got an old paint brush to put it onto the cardboard with, but you can use a scrap of cardboard or a glue spreader if you have one.

It doesn't really matter.

The glue doesn't need to be neatly applied 'cause we need to wait for it all to dry before we can print from it anyway.

So I'll show you what I've chosen and found around my house to use.

I've got some bits of bubble wrap.

I've got an old piece of a drinking straw.

A piece of textured cardboard, or paper and some little pieces of some textured plastic that I found in the bottom of a sewing box.

I've also got a pipe cleaner, but I think it might be not what I want at this stage.

But I'll see, but it has a great texture, doesn't it? It doesn't matter at all what colour things are at the moment because it won't matter.

It won't come out in the print.

The colour is what colour paint you add to your collagraph stamp, not the colour of the object.

So that doesn't matter.

It doesn't need to look pretty at this stage.

I've also got some bits of string and wool and ribbon here.

So I can choose from the little bits that I've got.

You can see that they're not, they're just pieces from maybe my recycling or that I found around the house.

So it doesn't have to be special things at all.

What we also need is to select objects that can be squished and flattened a little bit on our cardboard so that when we put the paint onto them and squash down our stamp, it will come out onto the paper.

Okay, so I'm going to choose to use my runny glue today.

And I'm literally going to put some onto my design and you really don't have to worry about being neat with it at this stage.

So I'm going to put on plenty of glue because everything needs to be stuck down really well.

I think, do you remember I said that I'd like some stripes in my letter T? So I think I'm going to use some of this nice corrugated paper for my stripes part of my design.

And I might have some going the other way as well.

I think for the circles I'm going to use some of this lovely plastic.

Can you guess what the pattern is going to be when I've made my print? That's right, it'll be a bit like a shreddy or a waffle, won't it? Lots of little squares.

So I'm going to stick that part down onto my design.

It doesn't even have to be exactly the right size.

But if it's not right, you can lift it off, change it and then stick it down again.

You can keep changing your mind as you go and adding pieces on all of the time.

You can also take bits away if you're not happy.

I want to put a little bit of bubbly wrap on one of the circles too to see how that comes out later on.

And I can even sort of squish it together.

So now I've started to make my textured stamp.

You can see that the straws stand out a little bit from the rest.

But when I print it they'll get squished down a little bit.

So they'll be fine, whoops! Okay, that's our next stage, printmakers.

Right, you're ready now to stick your found scraps down onto your design, onto your piece of cardboard to make your collagraph stamp ready for printmaking.

Pause the video and off you go.

Remember to stick down everything really well, won't you? Okay, the third task today is to apply the paint to our stamp.

Now I do actually have another top tip today.

Just apply the paint to the raised parts of your stamp.

Because they're the only parts that will print.

Then press your stamp down firmly onto your piece of paper.

In the pictures here on the screen you can see that I've already printed with a pink colour with my collagraph stamp.

Then when the paint was wiped off or dry on it I can print with a new colour and you can see that here I'm printing with green.

So I'm only putting green paint with my brush onto the parts that I actually want to show up on my print.

Can you see? Have a really careful look at my picture first.

Then in the second picture, I'm pressing the stamp down onto my paper.

You're ready to have a go now printmakers.

So you're going to need to pause the video in a second, apply the paint to your collagraph stamp.

Remember, only the bits that you want to print.

How did you get on? It wasn't easy, was it? But after a few goes with your printing I expect you managed to change the amount of paint you added and modify your design if you needed to.

For example, if there was an element on it that was sticking out too far, sticking up too far, you could take that off and replace it with something different.

You can change your stamp as you go.

What works well with your prints? What did you have to change? Did you have to explore putting the paint and the amount of paint on a lot? I did, when I did it.

I had to put, add more paint each time.

I found that I didn't put enough on.

By the time I'd covered the whole stamp, some of it, it started to dry, so it didn't print so well.

So I needed to apply the paint quite thickly and over all the areas that I wanted to print.

I had to be quite quick as well.

Because as I said the paint started to dry.

So you have to be careful and you start to learn how quickly you need to work.

I also changed some of the bits on my design.

Have a look at my picture here on the screen.

I really liked the circle, the texture in the circle that the arrow is pointing to.

And I'm going to use that texture again.

It was a little piece of plastic that I found in my sewing inbox, I think.

But next time I'm going to make sure I press much harder around the edges.

And maybe add a little bit more paint to the edges as well, to make sure that my print has a more defined border.

What will you change about yours? Can you tell me? Ah, I agree, I think that's right.

Have another go.

If some of the areas of your print aren't very clear you can try different things.

You can either apply the paint more thickly like I've just explained to you I had to do, or you can also try pressing a little harder in those areas.

It might be that, that there are textures that are slightly more raised than the bit you want to print.

So you have to press those down a little bit more.

The good thing about using a cardboard base for a stamp is that you can press it down quite hard in certain areas.

Well done printmakers! What an amazing lesson.

You made a collagraph stamp for your printmaking today which is a really clever thing to do.

You can make lots of prints with it now, try lots of different colours.

Your sketchbook task today is to choose your favourite prints.

If like me, you printed lots and lots of them.

It's really good to sort through, and find one or two that you're really happy with.

Add them to your sketchbook or onto a new piece of paper with a border around them so that you can present them to your parents and carers and family and friends.

You can maybe even make a small gallery of your prints 'cause I expect you've got a few of them today.

I made a pattern with some of my collagraph prints in my sketchbook.

Have a look at it.

Can you describe it for me? That's right, it's one of the works that we've used in our previous lessons.

That pattern is rotated.

Can you see how I've changed the direction of the stamp each time? If you'd like to share your work with Oak National today the details are on this screen.

But as always please remember to ask your parent or carer to upload this for you.

Well done printmakers! I really, really enjoyed our lesson today.

Thank you for working so hard on your collagraph stamps.

The last lesson in our series of printmaking lessons, lesson five we'll be putting our prints together and arranging them and choosing our favourites from all of our lessons.

We're going to make a kind of a gallery of our prints.

Please join me for lesson five, bye-bye.