Yama Prints / yamaprints.net is proud to announce the publication of a new book on printmaking, CARBORUNDUM COLLAGRAPH PRINTMAKING: A non-toxic painterly method to make full-spectrum fine art prints, by Betty Winkler.

The book fills gaps both historically and instructionally. There has been no information about the carborundum paste technique in English, and nothing updated from a 1969 booklet in French - until this current publication.

Carborundum paste is a non-toxic painterly method to make full-spectrum fine art prints.

Carborundum collagraphs, using carborundum paste, offer the experienced and novice artist-printmaker easy access to printmaking. It is non-toxic to make the printing plate, using materials that are widely available and inexpensive. It involves less time and less materials than other printmaking.

If you can dip a brush into paint and paint it on a board, you can create a printing plate using carborundum paste. Your prints can have vivid full-spectrum colors with a wide range of values and textures. Whether making monoprints, small or large editions, carborundum paste is amazingly versatile and sturdy. It is suited for either abstract or figurative imagery.

This book provides step-by-step instructions to take you from buying materials through making and printing a collagraph plate, to signing your finished artwork. There are numerous color photos illustrating the clear step-by-step instructions. More photos show key concepts and limited-edition prints created using this little known paste method.

It also clarifies distinctions between this collagraph method and non-collagraph printmaking techniques. Often mislabeled as ‘carborundum aquatint’ or aquatint, among other labels, carborundum collagraph is a medium in its own right. Clear definitions and visual examples are provided in the book.

Collectors, curators and art historians will find this book useful, as it contains a brief history of the technique, developed by Henri Goetz in the 1950s -1960s. An American abstract artist living in France, he wrote about mixing glue and carborundum grits to hold printing ink, in a booklet written in French.

Betty, as manager and printer of the printmaking studio,Yama Prints, updated and expanded Goetz’s methods, including using materials that were not available during his time. She printed limited editions with a diversity of abstract and figurative artists including Rafael Ferrer, Suzanne Nessim, Miriam Schapiro and David Shapiro. These and others are included in the book. She has taught the technique, in addition to other printmaking, at numerous schools and workshops along the eastern seaboard.

118 pages
8.5” x 11” / 216 x 279 mm), Paperback, Matte Cover
Publisher: Yama Prints
Publication Date: 2021
Imprint: lulu.com
Price: $40.00

Please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the process or the book.