I tried my hand at a bit of colourful drypoint print making this week using a kit from the Bristol Print Collective. I’ve had a go at a few different kinds of printing in the past, but haven’t had a go at this type before. 

The kit is available on their website, costs £45, and includes:

• Etching needle
• Palette knife
• Biro
• Ink
• Paper
• Blotting paper
• Tissue paper
• Drypoint card
• Glue
• Sandpaper
• Handy press
• Scrim
• Disposable gloves

You definitely need somewhere to do this that you don’t mind getting dirty and I would highly recommend laying down some newspaper to protect your surfaces because this process is messy! You’ll also need a large bowl for soaking the paper, and some scissors. The kit only comes with one pair of disposable gloves, but I used two more pairs, one for each design, because I got so much ink on them that there was no way I could reuse them. There are three pieces of drypoint card included so I did a different design on each. I just did basic line drawings of designs that I was familiar with (because I doodle them all the time or use them as designs for my own work) so that they would be easier to work with. I made sure to include a section on each that was a solid block as I really like that effect when it’s printed.

Before I started I read through the instruction booklet and probably would have been fine following along with that, but I found it really helpful to watch the video online first as well. It was really clear and made me feel confident that I knew what to do having seen someone else do it. I referred back to the printed booklet whilst I was in the process of printing, but I didn’t feel so dependent on it.

The process is a little fiddly. After the designs have been drawn and then etched onto the drypoint card comes the actual printing process which is a lot of applying ink and then wiping it off again to ensure it was in all the lines you had etched. I really liked the chine-collé part of the process; applying coloured tissue paper to the design before printing it onto paper so that it transfers onto the final piece. It adds some fun to the prints and brings them to life. 

I just did one of each print, but there was enough paper included in the kit for multiple prints. If I was doing multiple prints I would definitely cut out my coloured tissue paper shapes before starting the process to make it easier and a bit quicker (and a bit neater too!). I found the handy press quite tricky to use as it had a tendency to wobble all over the place, but I would imagine that with a bit of practice it would become easier to handle. Overall it was a really interesting process to learn and the kit and instructions made it feel easy.