Printing with a Collagraph Relief - Printing Workshop Day 4

In our final day in the Printing Workshop, my group and i were able to print using our Collagraph Relief Prints we made in the previous lesson. to do this, we had to apply a colour of oil paint (preferably dark to start with) and rub in onto the relief print, removing the excess ink. After this we could add more and more colours onto the relief print. Once we had done this, we had to get a piece of dampened paper and once again, lay it over the top of the print and put it through a press.
Unfortunately, after a couple of prints, the ink began to 'bleed' into my design, which i didn't want but it came out with some good effects on the paper.

My Design after being sealed with varnsih. 

My design after a couple of prints, showing the 'bleeding'

Making a Collagraph Relief Print - Printing Workshop day 3

In this workshop, my group and i were asked to make a Collagraph Relief Print.
The process of making a Collagraph Relief Print was actually quite easy. My group and i were asked to draw 6 designs onto a plain piece of paper. I decided to make my designs link in with the Nature project we were also studying. My designs incorporated things such as flowers and butterfly wing patterns. After we had done all of these designs, we were asked to choose our favorite and trace it onto a new piece of paper.
We then had to think about the layers of the design, as each layer would be raised higher than the other. After doing this, we had to draw each layer separate than the others and cut them out.
After cutting out all of the layers, we were told to glue them onto a square piece of card, making sure that all of the sides were stuck down so the ink wouldn't get in when we used it to print.
After gluing all of the layers down using PVC glue, we then had to cover it with white emulsion paint and then varnish when it was dry to lock the layers down and prevent ink getting into them and 'bleeding'.

My Original Design

The Traced Layers

Adding the layers onto the Cardboard

Adding More Layers

The Final Product

After making the Collagraph Relief Print, we then were able to print using our previously made Open Bite's. To do this, we had to add a little bit of ink onto the zinc plate, using a paper 'spatula'. We then had to rub the ink all over the plate, ensuring that the ink went into the design. After this we had to rub away the ink with newspaper, making the zinc plate as clean as we could. This is so that the ink that went into the design shows up better on the paper. We then had to get some dampened paper, put it on top on the plate on a press, and roll it through, carefully removing the paper when you'd finished so it didn't tear.