Fun Printmaking Projects!

     This is an appropriate art form to follow in the foot steps of the Chinese New Year. Why? Well, let's go back 2000 years ago, to the time when paper was invented, which is usually (but not always) required to make prints. Paper was invented in 105 CE by a Chinese eunuch, Ts'ai Lun. The Chinese also invented the woodcut, which is the oldest form of printmaking. There were wood-block pictures and texts in China hundreds of years before the first prints appeared in 15th century Europe. And thus the book was formed.

     There are four types of printmaking processes that printmakers use, which is listed below. Because the art room does not have it's own printing press and some of the printing techniques involve sharp tools or toxic materials, I do the best I can to teach the basic ideas of some of these techniques with modified materials.

1) Relief printing: Woodcut, linoleum cut, stamps, rubbings, etc. This is making a print from a raised surface. The design area stands out and receives the ink, while the rest of the area is cut away so it cannot print when the surface is inked.

2) Intaglio printing: Etching, aquatint, engraving, drypoint, etc. Intaglio prints are created from a cut or scratched surface, and the cut areas receive and hold the ink for printing.

3) Stencil (serigraphy) printing: Silk screen (serigraph), photographic silk screen, paper stencil, etc. Prints are made from ink forced through openings of a surface of cut material.

4) Planography (surface) printing: Lithography. This process must be done in a studio equipped with special and some toxic materials, so it is not something usually taught to children, unless they are fortunate to have access to a lithography studio. Prints are made from ink which has been rolled on an image drawn on a stone or metal surface with a greasy crayon or ink and treated with turpentine and water.

MONOPRINTING

 I like to begin my series of printmaking lessons with some fun monoprinting projects. Mono, meaning one, is the process of laying the ink or paint onto a hard surface, and making one print off of this design. It's a good way to loosen up, and to grasp the concept of how it takes certain steps to create a print, and that the print will always be a mirror image of the picture drawn on the plate.

Materials Needed

• newspapers
• glass or plexiglass plates of various sizes
• tempera paint
• brushes of various sizes
• thick white drawing paper
• water and rags

1 Have a few sheets of newspaper under a clean, dry plate, put out a variety of tempera paint colors in cups with brushes and water.

2  Make a fairly quick painting on the plate (the tempera will dry and won't be able to print if it sits too long) while being careful not to lay it on too thick or the paint will smear when printed. I also discourage using letters: it gets too confusing to figure out how to write backwards on the plate, and this project should be about freeing up the creative juices! 
       
3 When the painting is finished make sure that the newspaper beneath the plate is free of paint, change if needed, then center the paper over the plate, lay it down and start gently pressing and rubbing your hands over the paper. You will know the print is ready when the image begins to lightly appear through the paper.

4 Lift the paper by the edges and see what appears!

BUTTERFLY PRINTS

A lesson in symmetry, printmaking and folding.

Materials Needed

• newspapers
• high-gloss paper (fingerpainting paper is good)
• tempera paints
• water, brushes, cups and rags

1 Fold the paper in half

2 Paint half of a butterly wing, head and antenna on the folded side of the paper.

3 Unfold the paper, then refold and press the blank half over the painted half and rub all over the paper with your hands.

4 Unfold the paper and voila! A beautiful butterfly!

Stencil Printing

See what happens when you add paint or ink to negative and positive spaces. The example in this project shows a 4th grade student's stencil print of a simple leaf shape using 2 tempera paint colors on the back of a grocery bag.

Materials Needed

• cardboard or mat board
• scissors
• printing ink or paint
• paper
• rollers and brushes
• newspaper
• pencil

1 Design a simple shape on a piece of cardboard. Add details inside the shape such as circles, lines, etc. to add interest and create more negative spaces.

2 Cut out the shape, and all of the interesting details. This is the stencil.

3  Lay the cardboard stencil over a piece of paper. Roll a color over the stencil, and use a brush to get into the holes if necessary. Be sure to get all around the edges!

4 When the stencil is lifted off of the paper you will see the how the covered areas are left blank. It's fun to try painting the stencil with a lighter color first, lay it on the paper, then roll over the stencil with a darker color.  

Multiple Color Printing Plates

This was a somewhat difficult printmaking activity, best taught to grades 4th and up. I think the most confusing part is to understand that this is about taking away areas to make an image rather than adding to areas, as you would to a painting. The students really enjoyed this project though, and the outcome was almost always successful.

Materials Needed

• newspaper
• printing ink
• 3 or 4 plexiglass or glass plates of the same size
• brayers (rollers)
• paper
• pencils and black markers
• cotton balls, swabs and paper towels

1 Create a fairly simple design on a piece of paper. The paper must be the same size as the ink plates.

2 Trace over the drawing with a thick black pen.

3 Turn the paper over and trace over the lines from the other side, then go over again with a black pen. You should then have the same drawing on both sides of the paper, but in opposite directions.

4 Line the plates up in a row on a table. Each plate will have it's own color of ink. The first plate will be the lightest (for instance yellow), then medium (red) then darkest (purple) last. Three colors seemed to be the easiest to work with.

5 Apply the ink to the first plate and roll evenly with a brayer.

6 Place the back side of the drawing under the first inked plate. This is the side that was traced from the original, and is the mirror image. Now with a small paper towel piece, cotton, or swab take out the inked areas that you do not want to show up on the print.

7 Remove the drawing and place the original side onto the inked plate. Roll vigorously over the paper with a clean brayer. Lift paper off plate.

8 Repeat steps for the next two colors. Remember to use the tracing of the original (the backside of the drawing) under the plate when taking away the color, and to use the original drawing over the plate when making a print.