It's easy to make a print from a styrofoam plate or meat tray. Start by drawing a simple design on the styrofoam with a ball point pen. Impress the design just hard enough to make an indentation without going through the styrofoam. Next roll out some printing ink (or acrylic paint) on a tray. If you don't have a breyer you can roll the ink or paint with a small sponge paint roller. Roll out a thin layer of ink (or paint) over the styrofoam. Notice the ink lays just on top and doesn't flow into the grooves of the drawing. Lay down your roller or breyer (on its back not resting on the roller) and carefully lay a piece of paper over your inked design. Use the back of a spoon or your fingertips to rub in circles over the whole design. (This ensures that all inked areas of the design are transferred cleanly to the paper) Carefully peel the design off of the styrofoam plate and voila! you have made your first print. Repeat the process as many times as you wish. Be sure to clean off your plate so that later prints will not be clogged with dried ink or paint. Good luck and happy printing! I love comments and sharing. I have lots of different ideas if you have questions about other printmaking projects!

In this tutorial, mixed-media artist Cathy Taylor shows you how to create artful nature prints using easy monoprinting techniques.

The children use white glue and aluminum foil to create prints with positive and negative lines. For ages 9 to 13. Plan 3 sessions. KEY IDEAS Creating unique effects through relief printing Working with positive and negative lines Understanding and using printing terms Making more than one print from a single printing plate LANGUAGE relief printing, positive lines, negative lines, printing plate, brayer YOU WILL NEED Liquid glue in small squeeze bottles (one per child) Cardboard with a glossy surface (approximately 6 x 8 inches) Printing paper Scrap paper Pencils with blunt points Water-based printing inks Soft rubber brayers Sheets of glass or Plexiglas for ink trays Oven-strength aluminum foil Masking tape Small bowls of glue with brushes Newspaper Toothpicks (optional) THE PROJECT First Session Preparation Adjust the caps on the glue bottles to get a thin flow of glue. Set out bottles of glue, cardboard, and pencils. Cover work area with newspaper. How to Begin The children will experience two different approaches in preparing printing plates, which are used to transfer images to paper. In this session, positive, or raised, lines will be made with white glue. Explain that when printing ink is rolled over the printing plate the protruding glue lines will get ink on them, so when the print is made the lines will be the color of the ink. In the next session, the children will be covering the printing plates with aluminum foil and pressing lines into the foil. This will create negative lines that will not get ink on them and will be the color of the paper when a print is made. Both of these processes are referred to as relief printing. Demonstrate how to draw on the printing plate with the white glue. Start by making a guideline with pencil, filling the cardboard with a drawing of a single animal or object. Explain that the thickness of the glue line will make small details disappear, so they will be added in the next session when working with the aluminum foil. Apply the glue by trailing along the lines, gently squeezing the container with the nozzle against the cardboard. Moving the bottle too quickly along the lines will cause the glue to skip and moving too slowly will cause the glue to puddle. After the children practice making glue lines on pieces of scrap paper, have them draw an animal or object on the cardboard with pencil, and then follow the lines with the white glue. Remind them to keep the cardboard flat so the wet glue lines will not run. Note: The glue needs to dry overnight before using the plates for printing. Second Session Preparation Cut aluminum foil into pieces slightly larger that the cardboard. Cover work area with newspapers. Set out printing plates, foil, masking tape, and pencils. Set out small dishes of glue with brushes. How to Begin In this session, the children will be gluing aluminum foil to their printing plates and drawing details and backgrounds into the foil while the glue is still wet. Demonstrate how to apply the aluminum foil. Brush the glue over the entire surface of the printing plate, smoothing any lumps or puddles. With the shiny side facing up, stretch the aluminum foil over the wet glue, pressing it down firmly, starting from the center and working out to the edges of the printing plate. It’s important to press over the entire surface so that all areas of the foil will adhere to the printing plate. Fold and tape the extra foil to the back of the printing plate. Using a blunt-pointed pencil, carefully indent the foil on both sides of the glue lines, working slowly so the foil doesn’t tear. Then add details and backgrounds by drawing into the foil. Encourage the children to fill the printing plates with lots of patterns and textures, such as leaves on trees, veins in leaves, and blades of grass. Have the children glue the foil onto the printing plates and complete their drawings while the glue is still wet. Third Session Preparation Prepare one or more printing stations. Each station should be covered with newspaper and include a magazine, an ink tray, a brayer, printing ink, and printing paper. Set aside a clean area for rubbing and pulling the prints. Plan space to dry the prints as they are pulled. Set out the prepared printing plates. How to Begin In this session, the children will be applying printing ink to their printing plates to make relief prints. Demonstrate the printing process by first placing the printing plate on a magazine. Explain that after the ink is applied, the page can be turned to give the next child a clean working surface. Squeeze about an inch of ink onto the ink tray. Use the brayer, or roller, to spread the ink in several directions. Be sure the children understand that the intention is to have the ink evenly distributed on the brayer rather than the ink tray. Using strong pressure, roll the inked brayer firmly over the printing plate several times. Refill the brayer by rolling it across the ink tray again. Then roll the brayer over the printing plate in another direction. Repeat this several times, pressing firmly, until enough ink has been transferred from the ink tray and is evenly distributed on the printing plate. To pull a print, place the printing plate on a clean surface with the inked side up. Lay a piece of paper on top of the plate. While holding the paper in place with one hand, use the other hand to rub firmly with the soft part of the finger tips. Be sure to rub the entire surface. Tell the children that an important characteristic of a quality print is its sharp, crisp edges. They should rub around all the edges very carefully. Holding one side of the print with one hand, lift up the other side to see if enough ink has been transferred to the paper. If not, let the paper drop and continue rubbing. When finished, gently pull the paper from the printing plate. Have the children spend the rest of the session making as many prints as time allows. NOTES Whenever demonstrating a process, use a subject different from the one that the children will be using. This will allow the children to think freely and not be inhibited by your ideas and interpretations. It is difficult to apply the glue lines evenly, but the resulting variations in thickness add interest to the final print. If necessary, puddles can be spread by pulling a toothpick through them. The shiny side of the aluminum foil is non-stick, so it is important to glue the dull side of the foil to the printing plate. If you glue the shiny side down, the print will not work because the non-stick foil will pull away from the printing plate when the ink is rolled across it. A proper amount of ink on the ink tray will sound tacky when rolling the brayer across it. If the sound is smooth or slimy, there is too much ink which will clog the fine lines in the aluminum foil. Therefore, it is best to have an adult refill the ink on the ink trays. Because of the raised glue line, extra pressure is needed when rolling the ink on the printing plate and care must be taken to rub the complete surface before pulling the print. If time permits, show the children how a finished print is numbered. The number of the impression is placed over the total number of prints made. For example, the first print pulled out of five prints would be 1/5; the second print pulled would be 2/5 and so on. This is written in pencil on the right hand side under the print. The artist’s name appears on the left hand side under the print, also in pencil. LET’S TALK ABOUT OUR WORK Is the ink distributed evenly on each print? Are the edges of the prints sharp and crisp? Discuss the positive and negative lines in the prints. What the children might say... I can’t get my glue bottle to work. There are blobs of glue all over. I pushed too hard with my pencil and the aluminum foil ripped. How much background do I need to draw? I like the sound that the brayer makes when rolling it in the ink. My print came out smeared. What you might say... When applying the glue remember to adjust how hard you squeeze. Although some puddles will not hurt your print, you can drag a toothpick through them to spread the glue. Be sure your pencil has a very blunt point so it won’t rip the foil. A few small tears won’t hurt as long as you have glued the foil very securely to the printing plate. Your print will be more successful if you fill your printing plate with details and textures. That tacky sound tells us that the proper amount of ink is on the ink tray. If the sound becomes slimy, we will need to remove some of the ink. When you make your print, be sure to use one hand to hold the paper in place while you rub with the other hand. Click here to view this lesson in a printer-friendly format.

Hi there! It's Marsha here today, sharing how to create image transfer gel prints with a double-exposure effect! Some results can be super spooky, so this is a fabulous technique to try this month! Check out my video: In the video, you can see that I use magazine images, book pages and laser prints interchangeably.

Well I've been busy creating lately and thought I would share a tutorial with you. This one shows you how to use newspaper on your layouts i...

I fell in love with printmaking back in college and my favorite printing process is monotyping- drawing or painting on a smooth no...

Hi there! It's Marsha here, and today I will give you seven ideas for using image transfer gel prints in your art.So let’s dive into it! I only briefly explain how to pull resist image transfers in this video. If you’d like to know more about the technique, we also have a FAQ video that

This foil pritntmaking method produces monoprints but the foil printing plate can be used over and over. Foil prints are a great experience for any age!

This step-by-step block printing lesson teaches how to do linocut and foam printing with your students complete with block printing supplies and videos.

I am fascinated by printmaking, by making an imprint, a reverse image of one reality that...

In this tutorial, mixed-media artist Cathy Taylor shows you how to create artful nature prints using easy monoprinting techniques.

So its over. I'm home from my last day of school in who knows how long. I know I've been complaining endless for the last year about how much I can't wait to get my free time back, but I'm going to miss it. I have a pretty good feeling that I'll be back eventually. Bye school, I'll miss you. Oh and a recap to the reactions from my class on my hut project: I found it somewhat amusing that no one really got the concept I built my hut around. It was more interesting to see all the different reactions to it, one person said it reminded them of little forts they used to build as kids (me too!), and another said it really was a physical realization of the fear that many college students have graduating of ending up living in a cardboard box (or in this case a tent made of clothes) being unsuccessful at life. I love how it generated so many reactions. Anyway, onto what I have been working on over the weekend, another TUTORIAL!! I've been meaning to do another one for a while, but wasn't sure what to do it on. But then it struck me, as I was trying to think of a neat print to make for some cards, duh, make a tute on some printmaking techniques that are awesome and easily done at home! So here it is guys. With LOTS of pictures. Everything you'll need: -your choice of linoleum -sharpie and/or pencil -cutter -water-based block printing ink -brayer -plexiglass or other hard surface that is washable -paper First of all you need to pick out your material. There's so many under the sun to choose from but I pulled some out of my stash to share with you. The one on the bottom is Golden Cut lino, which is pretty tough to carve. It's not impossible but nothing like the cut-through-like-butter lino you'd find in the typical craft store. It does have benefits like the ability to carve intricate textures that are more difficult to achieve on softer lino, but for at home purposes I probably wouldn't suggest it (I just pulled it out because that's what we used in my printmaking class and I had scraps left over). The second type I have is Blue Easy-To-Cut Lino. It's actually a nice medium between the super soft speedy cut linos (pink and white/gray type) and the golden cut. It's a bit more plasticy in texture which makes it more resilient to careless carving. My only complaint with this one is it is rather thin, and as I tend to carve deeply I often cut right through the lino making holes. Not the end of the world but it's a bit of a hassel. The last one I have in the picture is Speedy Carve pink lino which is my favorite lino to carve with at home. It is soft but still has a little bit of resilience to it. It kind of feels like you're carving rubber so as long as you take care not to go crazy fast with a cutting blade you have a fair amount of control with it, without having to kill you wrists carving. Now if you don't have any of these linos or don't want to shell out the money for them (some are more expensive than others) there are a lot of other materials that will give you a similar effect like erasers. I just prefer the lino because it gives you so much more room to work if you feel like working bigger =) Oh also as a side note: I'd be wary of the gray and/or white kinds. I've had ones that were similar to the speedy carve pink kind and were great, but more often than not they crumbled way to easily and didn't have the elasticity that speedy carve has - I wouldn't recommend it. You will also need a cutter (sorry forgot to get a picture of that!). They come with a variety of different blade sizes and shapes which are handy depending on the type of carving and detail you are working on. Now to the actual carving! Here's our lino. I drew a fun little design in sharpie to guide my blade as I carve. Pencil also works too but I like the bold lines a sharpie gives. First step is to carve the outline of everything with the smallest cutter blade you have (#1 or Liner blade). For a simple design like this it doesn't take too long, but for something more complicated, you'll be using the smallest blade for a while to get all the little corners and angles cut out. You can also see that I've filled in some of the leaves with more sharpie. It helps me to do that so when I'm doing the detailing of the leaves I can see the shapes I'm creating as I carve. Sometimes it helps to fill in areas with color so that you can better visualize the way it will print. Next I took out my biggest, widest cutter (#5 or Large Gouge blade) and carved away all the "waste" area, or large areas that need to be carved away quickly. Take care to stay away from the detail work as the large blade can easily ruin it by accidentally slicing through it. Next I used the second smallest blade (#2 or V-Gouge blade) to cut away the remaining lino. All done with carving! Now to print! Squeeze out a little bit of the ink onto your plexiglass (or substitute) and roll it out so that you have fully coated your brayer. Apply to the lino, making sure it is fully covered with ink. Press it face down onto your paper and use another brayer, a spoon, or your hands to apply pressure transferring the image to your paper. You can gently pick up the lino to see how well the image has transferred - hold down the lino on one side so it doesn't move if you have to place it back down; if it hasn't make a clean print yet, keep rubbing! Here's our completed print! Maybe a little too much ink as it has a bit of a smooshed look to it, and not crisp lines, but not bad! Here's some more pictures of another block I was working on to give you an idea. Happy printing!

In this post I will explain the basic steps of making linocuts at home without a press. I love the craft of linoleum printing and I hope you will tempted to try it as well.

I love to use photos in gel printing. It makes all my monotype prints personal and unique. With a computer and printer it is easy to make your own images

Printmaking crafts for kids Exploring different patterns and marks made using toilet and kitchen rolls that have been squashed, cut and wrapped in string and elastic bands.What a fun idea.These prints

At the Leeds Print Festival I had a number of conversations with people about reduction linocut prints, where I heard of other people’s successes and told of my failures. That’s not ent…

Total Art Soul has a GREAT idea for putting polystyrene containers to good use after you've emptied them of your takeout. Use them for printing. The

1. Print a self portrait that is the same size as your monotype plate. 2. Make a photocopy of that picture so you have a workin...

Printmaking crafts for kids Exploring different patterns and marks made using toilet and kitchen rolls that have been squashed, cut and wrapped in string and elastic bands.What a fun idea.These prints

A detailed tutorial for linocut printmakers explaining how to use Ternes Burton registration pins for perfect registration every time.

An introduction to inking a collagraph plate in a variety of ways, resulting in multicolor prints, or single color prints.

Printmaking is magical for kids and adults as well. The process of creating an image then transferring that image to another piece of paper is so exciting. There are so many different ways to print…

Stand Up Straight! We've all heard it (thanks, Mom!) and we've all said it to someone at some point. We're talking, of course, about posture. When we were

Let me start out by saying this has been one of the most successful and visually stunning projects that I've ever done with my students. It is definitely the most exciting printmaking project that we've ever done at Thomas. I wrote the lesson and went into the project thinking that it would probably be pretty good. I told my students that I'm absolutely blown away by the results of their talent and hard work. This lesson is a keeper. My previous 4th grade printmaking lesson was decent, but not outstanding. It was too similar from an art-making perspective to the Wild Things I do with my 2nd graders. This year, I really wanted to push the medium a little more by printing with multiple colors. I ended up deciding to push it to three colors and add in a little vocab by also bringing in the use of complimentary colors. Check out the lesson plan here! Close up of the piece above. Wow. Whew. That was a lot of examples, right? I just couldn't help myself this time. They were all so good that I had to show them off. If you're still reading, you're in luck. I'm going to tell you how I did this project and I'm going to use pictures! Let your inner kid rejoice. Start with a drawing of whatever you want to print. I had my kids do animal portraits. I gave them each a piece of the foam they would be printing on, then had them trace around it to give them the size of the final artwork. I then collected the foam for use the following week. Tape your drawing over the printing foam and use a dull pencil or other blunt tool to press down on the lines of just the outline of the subject. Take the paper off and press down again to make sure the marks are deep enough to make proper prints. I had my students make sure they ended up with three good prints of the background on the first day of printing. Re-tape the original drawing the following class. Press down any remaining details. Cut out the subject along the line that was pressed down last time. Now print with this piece directly on top of the original prints. I had my students use at least one set of complimentary colors. On the final day of printing, cut out a small detail that makes sense to print in a third color. Then, you guessed it, print this piece right on top of the original prints. This was my demo piece I did with the materials above.

An introduction to inking a collagraph plate in a variety of ways, resulting in multicolor prints, or single color prints.

My career path has included wiring company internets, managing computer networks, coding applications, etc. Geek? Yep! So I’ve been reflecting on my transformation into an artist over the years and how these two occupations have informed each other. Ever the geek, I tend to want to combine mediums and fix processes that I don’t like […]

Before I jump into this tutorial on the different products and materials you can use to create image transfers, I want to let you local folks know that the early bird discount deadline for the Oct.…

Designing your seating plan can be one of the more creative aspects of your wedding, you have the freedom to express yourself... Seating Plan: Design Ideas | Wedding Inspiration

5 steps to block-print your way to custom linens with a fun DIY napkin tutorial, perfect for the holidays.

An elementary art teacher blog with art projects and lessons, DIY projects and outfit photos as well as clothing I have made myself.

I fell in love with printmaking back in college and my favorite printing process is monotyping- drawing or painting on a smooth non absorbent surface and then transferring it to paper. A monotype produces a completely unique print with a process that is unpredictable, expressive, painterly and totally unlike any other creative process. There are all kinds of tools and supplies for monotypes (acrylic printing plates, the Gelli plate, etc) but really any slick surface will work- even something as simple as a plastic bag! PRINT with plastic bags from Alisa Burke on Vimeo. I like to start by "inking up" a plastic bag with either a brayer or a paint brush. You can can use printing ink, acrylic paint or even fabric paint if printing on fabric surfaces. There are all kinds of ways to get expressive on the surface- you can scratch into the paint with a toothpick, old paint brush or the end of a pencil. You can pull paint away (subtractive method) with a cotton swap or a rag. You can even add paint and brush strokes to the surface. Once you are satisfied its time to print by simply placing the plastic bag onto your surface. I like to roll my brayer over it a couple of times and peel the bag away from the surface. You are left with a print! If you are lucky and there is still enough ink on the bag you are able to get a second print- called a "ghost print". Since I tend to work more messy and abstract I like to start by adding layers of prints on top of each other to create a background full of color and texture. And then I go back into my surface with adding a final layer of pattern (typically flowers or shapes inspired by nature). Interested in learning more about printmaking? I've got a fun new mini class called Print.Make.Play. Check out all the details HERE

What happens with your applique edges?! This is one of those things where I have to think about the project and everything to decide what kind of applique edge I will be doing to finish the project.