Use Akua Kolor
for Clay Monotype

Since 1968 Mitch Lyons has been pioneering his image making from a slab of clay. First a slab of stoneware clay is rolled out. After allowing the slab to dry to a leather-hard consistency, colored slips are made using China clay and permanent pigments. These colored slips are brushed on, dried and rolled into the clay slab one color over another, building the design with images, color and textures on the matrix. Once the slab is rolled flat, a moistened piece of paper/canvass is placed over the slab. Pressure is applied using a rolling pin to transfer the clay slips onto the substrate.

Circle

Red Black Dots

To see more prints by Mitch Lyons please visit his artist page.

Use Akua Intaglio Inks

The word intaglio comes from the Italian language, and it means carved or recessed. Traditionally, lines or textures are cut or etched with acid into the surface of a metal plate. An intaglio-type is an image using an alternative technique that utilizes photopolymer film (ImagOn) for making the plate. This photo sensitive film can be laminated to plastic or metal plates. Photographs or hand drawn films can be used to create the incised image on the plate.
The intaglio-type plate is inked, and then wiped clean in the same manner as traditional intaglio methods. The ink lies only in the recess areas. A print is made when damp paper is laid onto the plate, and the two are rolled under pressure together in an etching press.
The Contemporary Printmaker by Keith Howard is an excellent reference book for learning this process.

Fireman's Tears by: Keith Howard

Sunday, Apt.#11
by: Erin Holscher

Western woodcut, Proverb 4.9 by Dan Dew, printed with Akua Kolor by hand with a baren

Use Akua Intaglio inks

A western woodcut is relief print made from a woodblock cut with tools. The ink is rolled on to the surface of the block with a brayer.

Suggested Supplies

Akua Intaglio Inks / Blending Medium / Transparent Base /

Carborundum Grits / Plastic Plates / Acrylic gloss medium/

Brushes/ Brayers / Paper

INSTRUCTIONS View and print 2 page PDF instructions

TONAL RANGE CHART: View and print 1 page PDF Chart

This Carborundum Monoprint by Prilla Smith Brackett was made using Akua Intaglio Inks.

Carborundum Printmaking is a collagraph platemaking process in which the image is created on the plate by painting carborundum (an abrasive grit) mixed with an acrylic medium. Once dried, the plate is inked, wiped and printed with an etching press in the same manner as other intaglio plates. Since the carborundum mixture is built up on the plate, the paper embosses when going through the press creating a rich velvety surface. The plates are strong and can be printed many times

About Carborundum:
Three Great Advantages to using Aluminum Oxide instead of Silicon Carbide

Carborundum is the trade name for Silicon Carbide (bluish black grit). Aluminum Oxide (brownish black grit) is recommended as an alternative.

1. Silicon Carbide is harder but it will fracture and break down quicker than Aluminum Oxide.
2. Aluminum Oxide is rounder in grain while Silicon Carbide is sharper in grain. When wiping the ink off the surface of the plate, the jagged grain of the Silicon Carbide may tear the tarlatan leaving behind small pieces of lint on the surface of the plate. Aluminum Oxide’s rounded grain offers a smoother wiping process and decreases the problem of shredded tarlatan.
3. Aluminum Oxide is more economical. They are both available in the same grades ranging from fine powders to medium and coarse grits. Print results look the same.

This carborundum print by David Jay Reed, was produced with two plates. First a monotype plate was printed using Ultramarine Blue Akua Kolor. Then Carbon Black Akua Intaglio ink was applied to the Carborundum Plate and printed on top of the blue print.  The thin quality of Akua Kolor offered a nice tint of color for the overprinting of the heavier application of Akua Intaglio ink.

Japanese Hanga Woodcut, Counterpoint by April Vollmer, Japanese woodcut printed with Akua Kolor by hand with a baren

Use Akua Kolor

A Japanese hanga woodcut is a relief print made from a woodblock cut with tools. The ink is applied to the surface of the block with brushes.

Use Akua Kolor right from the bottle or mix with water and wheat paste or methylcellulose. The amount of each depends on the color you want, paper, and the humidity.  Note: Paste is optional. Some printmakers prefer the character of Akua Kolor with out the paste.

Use Akua Kolor for thin color with lots of plate tone to manipulate on the smooth surface of the plate

Use Akua Intaglio inks for heavier ink applications and higher contrast prints.

A PhotoCarborundum print is made by applying a mixture of carborundum grit and acrylic gel to the plate by squeegee through a photo stencil adhered to a silk screen. The plate dries and hardens, and is inked and printed with a press.

Karen Cunningham printed the same PhotoCarborundum plate four times. Each time it went through the press with only one color.  She used Akua Kolor inks on all four passes.  First Dairylide Yellow, second Quinacridone Red, third Phthalo Blue Green and fourth Lamp Black.  She manipulated the ink differently each time. The paper  remained dry throughout the printing process.

Suggested  Supplies

Akua Intaglio Ink /   Blending Medium / Styrene plate & Polyester mesh /  White Acrylic / Acrylic Gloss Medium / Black Acrylic, Sponge Brush and Sand Paper

Instructions (View and Print)

Silk Aquatint is a non-acid method of working a print plate. The image is created by painting with whitened acrylic medium on a black silk surface backed with plastic, to produce a variety of tones and textures. The plate is then inked, wiped (like a metal plate), and printed on an etching press.

Silk Aquatint print by Rigo Pergalta. (plate show above print)

Silk Aquatint by Julio Valdez

Silk Aquatint by: Marcos Dimas

Rodriguez Calero

© the individual artists

Judy Lapides - Viscosity Monotype printed with Akua Kolor and Akua Intaglio at Art New England Workshop, Bennington College.

A viscosity monotype deals with two inks with different viscosities, thick and thin, which resist one another when rolled on to the plate. Thin Akua-Kolor will resist the thicker Akua intaglio that is rolled on top.

Use Akua Kolor & Akua Intaglio inks

A Monoprint is an image composed of a monotype and some other form of printmaking resulting in a variable edition. Each print from the variable edition is a one of a kind print where part of the image is repeatable on a fixed matrix and part is not. The following image Family of Three was made by printing a drypoint plate on top of a subtractive monotype print. The final image was printed many times, each time in a different way.

Images below were taken from the Safer Printmaking DVD.

Family of Three
by Susan Rostow & Jarrett Jung (age 5)
Drypoint Monoprint

Family of Three
printed a different way

Rolling Akua Kolor onto the monotype plate with the use of a brayer.

Applying drops of red Akua Kolor onto the monotype plate.

Drawing the image by removing the ink with with tissue paper.

Printing the red plate on top of the yellow print.

This plastic drypoint plate was printed on top of the colored monotype.

Monotype Methods

Additive monotype: Created by painting or drawing directly on the plate. The ink is applied with a brush, or any other tool.

Reductive Monotype: Entails rolling up the plate with ink first. Then the image is wiped out with a variety of tools such as rags. (Also known as the reductive method, or dark field monotype).

Trace Monotype: A direct-drawing printmaking technique. (Also known as transfer drawing).

Viscosity Monotype: A monotype made with two or more inks with different viscosities, thick and thin, which resist one another when rolled onto the plate.

Clay Monotype: Made from a slab of clay.