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Grade Level: all levels
Materials:
| Styrofoam plates |
brayers |
pencils or other blunt objects |
ink |
cookie sheets |
Plexiglas |
Procedures:
Many teachers would like to pursue some
other media in the art room, but diminishing budgets and lack of equipment
keep us form trying any "new" things. The following are some ideas
on how to bring printmaking into the art room without many extra effort
or supplies.
The introduction of printmaking on Styrofoam
is a cheap and easy way to initiate the process for all ages. Many
of us have obtained large quantities of Styrofoam plates, and parents
are always willing to part with the trays, as a exercise in recycling.
Just be sure to wash all of
these in bleach before handling (nobody
like to get food poisoning).
Another source of Styrofoam is building
sites, where one might be able to get scraps of board. These boards
are sometimes thicker or bigger, and might have be cut to proportions appropriate
for used in the class room. For making indentations into the foam,
one can use anything with
a slightly blunt edge: pencils, pens,
forks. After applying ink to these plates, the indentations will
stay white (or the colour of the paper). Do not forget to tell the class that their
design will turn out in reverse on the paper. Many of the students
would like to add letters or words to their work. One can also
cut the foam into desired shapes, to add to the design possibilities.
For ink, many of us have struggled to find
an alternative to the expensive water soluble inks. A good
substitute is "Colour -Your-World" Heavy Duty Vinyl Adhesive", used
for applying wall coverings. The cost are minimal, about $7 for a
liter, but larger quantities are even
cheaper. I have tried other brands,
but this is the one with the thickest consistency. To colour this,
one can get small amounts of universal colouring from the paint store.
(These are the colourings one tints paints with). Most stores will
give it to you for free, or for a minimal charge of $1 per ounce.
You can mix the colours, and add this to the adhesive. To prevent
the mix from drying too soon add some drops of glycerol (from your pharmacy) or some
drops of acrylic retarder. The dryer the weather the more retarder
is necessary. About 7 drops per 125 ml of mix would do. (Thanks to Stephen
and Winona Elliott for this recipe). One liter of the mix will last at least
for six sessions of 25 students each.
The large investment is still the brayers
applying the "ink" to the plate, however these can be used over and over
again. I also use clean brayers when the paper is on the plate.
One or two brayers in the room will do for about 25 students. For palettes I use cookie trays lined
with aluminum foil or anything with a
flat surface.
Set up the work stations so that traffic
will flow in the classroom. There should be one station with ink,
try one per colour, one for paper and transferring the ink to paper. A bulletin
board where prints can dried and displayed works the best. Laying
the prints on a flat surface might lead to having prints sticking together.
Also, having the prints on the wall makes it easy to review at the end
of the session. The students can wash their Styrofoam at the
sink, dry it, revise it and/or print it again with the ink.
Most students are amazed how much art they
can produce in a very short time and might lead them to other forms printmaking.
The same ink can also be used for monotype
print on Plexiglas. The different colours might make an interesting
mix, and again the only thing you need is the Plexiglas.
Remnants from commercial sign firms, cut into small rectangles, is a good
source. Also Mylar taped to the
working surface (such as a desk) which
is protected with a skim of some dish detergent is another good way
of doing monotypes.
This are some of the ideas I have tried
in the classroom; that even elementary students get excited about the prints,
not to mention their
the teachers.
Submitted by: Mary
Lathron - Caledonia-Mumford Elementary, New York.
Lesson: Printmaking - 3-D layered print (2 plates)
Grade Level: 2nd grade through grade 6
click images for larger views
The prints are made from Styrofoam
printing plates....they used one color of ink (actually, I use
Chromacryl) - they had a choice of light or dark green for the foliage
prints. They printed multiple copies on white paper. The animal image
was printed in the same manner - they could use red, orange or yellow
ink. When the prints were dry, they hand colored their prints using
Sanford plastic markers (they are very crayon-like, but you can sharpen
them in a regular pencil sharpener...they are "kind-of"
erasable and they are hollow inside....I love them!) They cut out their
animals and mounted them to the foliage prints using the foam
3D-O's.
I use the Dropping in on Rousseau
video and book in the beginning stages of the lesson to introduce the
lesson/artist etc. While the students are working I play part of the
audio cassette from the book called Panther Dream. (http://www.deaddisc.com/disc/Panther_Dreams.htm)
Awesome rainforest sounds accompanied by music. The book and music is a
collaboration by Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) and his sister Wendy. At some
point in the lesson I will read the whole book to them....they love it!
Note: for 6th grade, you might want to do
some reduction printing - reduce plate and print in multiple colors rather than
coloring one color prints. Reduction prints will make it more of a challenge for
them.
Easy Printmaking with Corrugated
Cardboard
See Cathy Topal's Thinking
with a Line Be sure to check the student gallery.
Materials: Styrofoam
trays (for inks or paint), assorted cut pieces of corrugated cardboard (cut to
different size rectangles), drawing paper (or construction paper), choice of ink
or paint (acrylic paint would be water resistance when dry). Optional: cut
cardboard tubes (for curves shapes) Instruction: Demonstrate
process. Present theme - or let student choose own subject - or create
non-objective works. Procedures: Students
dip edge of cardboard into ink and transfer ink to drawing paper (or
construction paper). Students can create some very complex designs
(architecture/city scapes is a good subject) You can
add to it card board cylinder sections for curved shapes (like cut up empty
masking tape
rolls).
You might try using acrylic paint as ink so that it will be water resistant when
dry. Students can then paint their compositions with water colors.
Quite striking is white ink on black paper - then colored with construction
paper crayons, pastels or oil pastels.
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