Collagraph using Recycled Cardboard Printed Intaglio Style without a Press

I used a round ruler template to mark and cut the corners off the tissue box once I snipped it into a workable square. Rounded corners are an fun option, so I use these rulers on printmaking plates for that purpose often.

This is my Go-To, water wash up sealer for making collagraph plates when the base is made from paper (mat board or tissue box or TteraPak, etc.) Two thin coats will seal the front, back and edges from moisture, modifiers and inks, and it cleans up easily. (Don't forget to seal the cardboard again *after* you use your scribing needle to incise grooves in the material.)

This brand of printmaking inks is one of my newly discovered favorites. It's richly pigmented, buttery smooth, wipes well, and transfers from plate to paper beautifully. It dries permanent, so you can paint over the ink with wet media, but the ink clean up is done with soap and water - no solvents necessary.

This is a good set of inexpensive craft brushes that will lay a smooth coat of acrylic varnish on your recycled box printing plate. I used the #10 brush from the set to seal the tissue box.

This stainless steel twisted scribe is the only etching tool you'll ever need to make incised line collagraphs, drypoint engravings or etchings. The tip can be sharpened again and again. In the post associated with this list, I'm using the same tool, but it has a cork handle.

In this example, I made a print from a tissue box like this one.

A good pair of stainless scissors is helpful to get clean edges when you're snipping cardboard from cereal or tissue boxes, or even clear platic from produce containers if you're making monotype or drypoint prints.

This is a beautiful, bright white, 100% rag printmaking paper. It can be used for prints transferred by hand and on a press, and the finished prints can be painted with watercolor on this paper.

I used a bic extra bold (which just means it has a thicker tip) ball point pen to draw on the tissue box. The lines in the drawing were basically a map for me to trace over with a scribing needle, which created grooves in the cardboard that will hold and print ink.

No matter how many labels on your pigments claim to be "non-toxic", always wear a rubber glove barrier between your skin, and your pigments and modifiers.

This scrim, or tarlatan, or wiping fabric (so many names), is softer than traditional starched tarlatan, but I find that it's subtle flexibility allows for more precision in targeted wiping. And since I only use it with water-wash-up inks, I wash the cloth with grease cutting dish soap after about every 10th use, and hang it to dry, and use it over and over and over again.

THIS little goodie was a total experiment for transferring prints without a press, and it's been great! The stainless surface is hard enough to really push soaked or spritzed and blotted printmaking paper into the inked grooves of a plate to collect ink and transfer the image.

If you need to soften your printmaking paper to help convince it to reach down into the inked grooves and incised lines of your printmaking plate, but you don't want to soak the entire sheet of paper, this atomizer sprays a fine mist to relax the cotton or rag pulp in the paper. Just before printing, spritz rhe printable surface, blot with a paper towel or a lint-free rag, and print immediately.

If you decide to paint your finished prints with watercolors, this set of 36 colors should provide you with great pigment playtime. You can paint each of your prints in the same colorway, or switch it up and paint each print differently. Watercolor paint brushes recommended (also in this list).

This watercolor brush set has enough variety in both tip style (flat, round, cat tongue and rigger) and size to cover many watercolor painting adventures on your printmaking inventory.