Making a few test prints on the plate-made-from-sensible-materials was quite successful, in that it turned out pretty much as I’d expected it to. The branches coming out of the top of the wal…
Build a Printmaking Press!: Have you ever wanted to get a press for making block prints, searched online, saw the multi thousand dollar price tag and dejectedly said: "dang nevermind"? This is exactly what went through my mind as I looked for presses online. I make a decent am…
A few weeks ago Open Press-owner Brian Kyle (@bkmms) shared his most recent printmaking experience ...
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
This monoprint project is full of texture & color. Grab the crayon and sandpaper and dig into this fun printmaking process for kids!
Lighthouse Collagraph Printmaking Project by small hands big art
Very cool printmaking ideas and inspiration for printmaking projects.
Today I am doing a bit of prep for a workshop I’ll be teaching next week. I wanted to do some kind of printing project and have settles on collagraph prints. A collagraph is a printing plate …
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!
This art lesson pack includes printmaking art projects for elementary classes. A printmaking project is included for every grade level kinder to 5th and covers a different printmaking technique.
International Dot Day, and one of my all-time favorite books, "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds, were my inspiration for this lesson! I wanted to come up with a new way to make a series of quick, colorful, one-of-a-kind "dots" that could be completed in one class session. With monoprints, only one print can be made from each design, but you can repaint the printing surface and make as many new designs as you like! These designs are styled after mandalas, circular designs with radial symmetry and repeating patterns.
Collagraph in the Classroom at a Glance Media & Techniques % %
When I tell people I'm a printmaker, it's often followed by the question, "What's that?" My short and sweet answer is that it's playing with big stamps. In truth, it's so much more than that. When you start learning about prints, the jargon, techniques, and terms can be overwhelming—photogravure, pochoir, serigraph, mezzotint, collagraph, linocut. And that's just scratching the surface (pun intended, for all you fellow printers). But when you break it down, all of these fancy names and techniques fall into just a few categories. There are four main categories for traditional printmaking: relief, intaglio, lithography, screenprint. I would say that digital printing is the modern fifth category as well. I'm not sure where this image originated, but I love how concisely it visually represents these four categories. If you would like to learn more about how all of this printmaking business works, MoMA has a super interactive guide that walks you through the basics for each process.
Very cool printmaking ideas and inspiration for printmaking projects.
The lino printing process can be frustrating when things don’t go according to plan - it happens to all of us. I have a few easy tips to help you get that perfect print. If you notice ink in some of your narrowly carved lines, and these details don’t print clearly, try inking with thinner layers
Can you believe we only have 8 days of school left? Where did this year go? Looking back on all of the projects that we completed, I am very pleased with the quality and quantity of work that my students produced. I truly believe that I have the most talented, wonderfully amazing students in the world! While looking back over all of the projects, I was shocked and a little upset with myself that we didn't do printmaking this year. While in college, I LOVED printmaking. I even did an independent study in it and my entire senior art exhibition was printmaking. We did printmaking in 7th grade last year but I wanted to kick it up a notch this year and make it a bit more challenging. I decided to try reduction printmaking! For this project, I took a picture of the students and used paint.net to posterize the photos into 3 colors (black, grey and white). Students shaded on the back and transferred all of their white areas onto the linoleum. We use easy carve linoleum at school and it's so easy for the kids. We haven't had any slips (or bad cuts) this year! Students used the gauge to carve away all of the areas of their print that would be left white. Since we were printing on white paper, we didn't need to print this part. All that would be left would be the grey and black areas. They chose a color and mixed it with some white to make a tint. Then students pulled a proof. A proof is a practice print so they can see what it would look like. If they were happy with their proof, they could pull 10 or more quality prints. The students discussed what made a quality print and here is their list... enough ink, no white spots linoleum carved away where it was meant to be carved away (no stray marks) Ink has an orange peel texture No finger prints No smudges (where the paper slipped on the plate) After they printed 10 or more quality prints, they had to carve away all of the grey area, leaving only the black areas to print. They then mixed a shade of ink and printed on top of their first prints. Here is the final result
One of the delights of experimental printmaking is using materials which havea mind of their own. If you enjoy this approach then you will definitely like experimenting with Tyvek printing plates.
Second nine weeks involves printmaking projects for my 3-5 graders - if you follow me on Instagram (@smartestartists), you know we have be...
Here is a fun printmaking project inspired by artist Paul Klee and his painting Castle and Sun. Do your kids watch Little Einsteins? My little girl loves them and was watching them the other day. If you do watch them, you know that they feature an artist and a composer each episode. Paul Klee was […]
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.
