Making their Mark on Wednesdays

It was a riot of colour and creativity in the printing room of the art department this week with the Wednesday afternoon print-making club. Pupils from across the school get the run of the printing room for the whole afternoon and can try their hand at different printing techniques each week.

They were practising collagraph printing, a technique where they each created a three-dimensional collage-based printing plate from which to print. Ink is added to the plate and passed through a hand-wound printing press to create a beautifully textured print. Pupils then looked at complimentary colours to add layers of paint to their final pieces.

They can also try mono printing, metal etching with acids, lino printing and dry printing, where designs are scratched into perspex plates.

The Wednesday afternoon Print club allows pupils to practise many styles and builds their confidence in many different areas, meaning when it comes to GCSE, they have a good range of techniques available to them.

Sixth Form student Madeline said, “ I love the print room and enjoy studying art alongside biology and chemistry as it gives me downtime between my academic studies.”