Techniques
Alison Hullyer

Linoprinting

This is a relief method of printmaking which Alison uses for many of her handmade cards.

The design is drawn onto a piece of lino and the areas to remain white are gouged out with a special tool. She takes rubbings from the surface of the plate to check how the cutting is progressing before printing begins.

A small roller is used to apply a thin coat of the oil-based ink. She then places the plate on top of the paper to be rolled through the press. The lino is inked up again before each print.

Any colour required is added once the ink is dry, using watercolours. Up to 300 prints can be produced from each plate.

Collograph

'Collograph' is derived from two words - 'colla' meaning to stick, and 'graphos' meaning to write. Alison mainly uses this technique for her handmade cards, but over 100 collograph images have also been published as greetings cards.

Alison makes her plates firstly by drawing onto a piece of mountboard. She then spreads PVA glue thickly all over the board. As the glue dries, she traces the design into it.

Once the glue is completely dry, Alison spreads thick black printing ink onto the surface of the plate, ensuring that the ink penetrates into the lines. She then carefully wipes the surface of the plate with tissue paper, just leaving the ink in the lines. The plate is then placed on the printing press and etching paper placed on top. It is then rolled through the press, which transfers the ink onto the paper.

Up to 150 prints can be taken from each plate. Watercolour is added by hand once the ink has dried.

There are many other variations to making collograph plates. The cardboard can easily be shaped into something other than a conventional rectangle. You can stick things to the cardboard such as string, sand, seeds, leaves, fabric, sequins etc. or cut away layers to add depth. Instead of PVA on the surface, varnish or shellac can be used to form a tough, non-absorbent layer, to ink up and print. Plates can be printed in relief or with the intaglio method.

Drypoint

Alison uses this technique to produce many of her designs that have been published as greetings cards. She uses a perspex 'plate' into which she engraves the outline of the image using a special tool. The plate is then inked up in the same way as an etching.

Alison spreads thick black printing ink onto the surface of the plate, ensuring that the ink penetrates into the lines. She then carefully wipes the surface of the plate with tissue paper, just leaving the ink in the lines. The plate is then placed on the printing press and etching paper placed on top. It is then rolled through the press, which transfers the ink onto the paper.

The ink takes about two days to dry. Watercolour is then added to produce the final artwork. The plate can produce about ten impressions.

Oil Painting

Alison firstly produces rough drawings and works out colours before starting a painting. Recently she has done this by scanning outlines into the computer and experimenting with different colour combinations before settling on the colour palette for each painting. Her paintings are usually quite small (less than 300mm square) and are either on paper or board.

Her inspiration for imagery derives mainly from French landscapes, Suffolk coastal landscapes and imaginary flowers. To add texture and definition to some of her paintings Alison draws into the paint while it is still wet. This is known as scraffito. The paintings take several days to dry.

Watercolour

Rather than producing more conventional watercolours Alison mostly uses her watercolours for colouring her card designs. She likes to use a wet on wet technique to produce a blend of colours. This method is not so easy to control but can produce 'happy accidents'.

Sketchbooks

Alison's sketchbooks are very important to her as they bring back vivid memories of places and are more evocative than a simple photograph. She uses a mixture of pen and ink, watercolour, pencil, charcoal and sepia pencil. She wishes she had more time for sketching. Alison also uses larger sketchbooks as working documents for her design work.