Collagraphy

{{Short description|Printmaking process}}

{{About|the printmaking process|the photographic process|Collotype|decorative writing|Calligraphy}}

File:Student work from a collagraph and monoprint workshop.jpg

Collagraphy (sometimes spelled collography) is a printmaking process in which materials are glued or sealed to a rigid substrate (such as paperboard or wood) to create a plate.{{Cite web |last=Zeng |first=Natasha |date=2015-12-17 |title=Experiments in Truth: Collagraph Printmaking, Environmental Stewardship, School Psychology, Social Change, and Virtues & Vices |url=http://magazine.wheaton.edu/stories/2016-winter-experiments-in-truth-collagraph-printmaking-environmental-stewardship-school-psychology-social-change-and-virtues-vices |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=Wheaton Magazine |language=en}} Once inked, the plate becomes a tool for imprinting the design onto paper or another medium. The resulting print is termed a collagraph.

File:Collagraph plates.jpg

The term "collagraph" was coined by Glen Alps in the 1950s, and is derived from the Greek word koll or kolla, meaning glue, and graph, meaning the activity of drawing.{{Cite book |last=MacKenzie |first=Susie |title=Making Collagraph Prints |publisher=Crowood Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781785005824 |oclc=1112656269}}

Artists use a variety of materials in collagraphy, including yarn, fabric, tape, different varieties of cut paper or card, leaves, feathers, and acrylic mediums.{{Cite web |date=2008 |title=Collagraph Printmaking [Lesson Plan] |url=https://cdn.dick-blick.com/lessonplans/collagraph-printmaking/collagraph-printmaking-collagraph-printmaking.pdf |archive-url= |website=Dick Blick}} The application of ink onto the collagraph plate is versatile, consisting of intaglio-inking into recesses, brayer or paintbrush inking onto relief surfaces, or a combination of these methods. A print can be made with, or without use of a press.{{Cite book |last=Oldfield |first=Vicky |title=Mixed-Media Collagraph Prints: Creative Techniques |publisher=Crowood Press |year=2023 |isbn=9780719841071 |oclc=1391439355}}