Frottage

I created a series of frottage pieces using collage'd textural objects such as wallpaper scraps, cut card and corrugated paper. I cut basic shapes out of the different textures to give my frottage pieces an abstract feel, I then placed these carefully in interesting compositions to ensure the eye travels around the piece of work. Once I chose my composition I then glued the textures down and allowed them to dry, Once my frottage plates were dry I placed different papers of different thicknesses over the top of my frottage plates and used both pencil and graffite to pick up the different shapes and textures.
Due to the thickness of the papers and the strokes created with the pencil some of the textures were difficult to pick up. I found that using the graffite on printing paper came out the most clear and picked up the most amount of texture.
I then decided to experiment with ink and collage to give my pieces a different feel. I first placed printing paper over the top of my frottage plates and used a roller and relief ink to pick up the textures in a similar method to the pencil and graffite. I first used black ink which gave my work a ghostly feel as some of the frottage pieces appeared smudged or faint. I then decided to try out coloured ink, mixing white with prussian blue I created a pale blue ink which gave my work a softer look. I feel this worked well with my frottage plates and the textures I had created.

After experimenting with ink I also decided to used collage to give an impression of Wassily Kadinskys work. I cut brightly coloured paper into basic shapes and placed them onto white printing paper in a similar composition to my frottage plates. I then used this collage to place over one of my frottage plates, using black ink I then rolled over the ink using a small roller to make my work look similar to Kadinskys.

After creating my frottage pieces I could have used my frottage plates to create more subtle abstract pieces. I could have inked up the plates in the same way you would when creating a relief print, this could have then been used to print onto different backgrounds created using brightly coloured acrylic paint and collage.

Equipment list-

• Scissors
• Circle Cutter
• Coloured card
• Textured card, wallpaper ect.
• Various papers - Printing, newsprint, cartridge
• Relief ink
• Pencil
• Graffite stick