Marlborough/Nelson Report June - August 2025
Jeff Lockhart
Collagraphic Printing using Eggshells
Eight of us enjoyed a one hour demo with Kathy Reilly on collographic printing. ‘Bring half a dozen eggshell halves– do not wash!’ This became clear as we crushed the cracked halves in a wooden press on to an A5 piece of matt board (kindly cut and donated by one of the keen printmakers). The thin lining of clear membrane inside the shell important to keep the broken bits of shell connected. Bear brand aluminium repair tape ($20 a roll) was stuck down on to the flattened crushed shells and wrapped around the edges of the matt board. This was then put through a printing press to force the tape in and around the shells. Voila! a collographic plate ready for printing.
Kathy demonstrating eggshell collograph technique
This was the first demo run over an hour at our monthly Top of The South Printmakers full day get together. The concept is to encourage more participation of PCANZ members and others interested or new to printmaking. Several of those participating had never done any printmaking before and enjoyed the low cost ($5 to cover materials) demo. Here’s hoping they come back again!
I printed my eggshell plate in egg yolk yellow and over printed an aluminium plate (a can of LIVE+ the ends cut off) fed through a pasta machine. So many possibilities for fun. Mostly I just ate apple cake and drank coffee and enjoyed the company.
We hope to run another one hour demo this month.
Helen Harrison