Art Summer School: Printmaking

With printmaking, we opted to do Lab 24: String Printing.  It really is one of the easiest activities to set up.

I diluted primary colours of the acylic ink in a plastic container, put one piece of cotton string in each, and let Tiger use the strings to create prints on A2-sized watercolour paper.  In order to prevent the ink from mixing up in the containers after each string has been used on paper, I had to wash each string after each application.

Tiger found 'drawing' with strings to be an interesting exercise so he went on to create three pieces at a go.

I wanted Tiger to experience more than one type of printmaking, so when I heard that an artist friend was doing a demonstration of monotype printing, I asked whether we could go along and he said yes!  That worked very well to coincide with Lab 26: Monotypes, and saved me from having to set it all up.

The basic process is actually very straightforward:

1. Begin by spreading a few dots of printing ink onto the plexiglas then use a brayer to spread the paint evenly on the surface (photo 1).
2. Place a piece of drawing paper gently over the suface and use a pencil to draw (photo 2).
3. When you are happy with your drawing (photo 3), lift the paper up carefully and turn it over.
4. Your print is on the other side of the paper (photo 4).

Tiger then repeated the process using the same sheet of plexiglas and paper but using a different coloured ink this time.

And another go....

Finally, Tiger tried to create two different prints using the same layer of ink on plexiglas.

The first one (top print) was done in the usual way.  The second one (bottom print) was done with another sheet of paper but without reapplying the ink.  It is interesting to see how differently both prints have turned out simply with a slight variation to the process.

You can read all about our in-house Art Summer School series here.


This post is linked up to:

1. Virtual Refrigerator: Phineas and Ferb 
2. Hobbies and Handicrafts - Aug 16
3. Collage Friday - Hitting Our Stride and a Field Trip
4. TGIF Linky Party #90
5. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One at the End of the First Six Weeks
6. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {August 17, 2013}
7. Hip Homeschool Hop - 8/20/13