Upper Elementary through Middle School


Print                                         plate                                       paper collage

Project created and taught spring 2006. Robin had the good fortune to get enough corrugated cardboard (one smooth liner side and the "flutes" exposed on the other side) for two classes. This inspired the printing project she did with 4th & 5th graders. To see examples of their finished work, go to the Ann Arbor Public School Student Art
Gallery: www.aaps.k12.mi.us/ins.artdatabase
Once in the Gallery's first page,

find the search button under the number of images in Gallery, in the search window which appears, choose

Medium:  printing,
School:  Pittsfield, and
School Year Completed:  2005-2006.

Note, the Sunburst Cardboard Prints with the 2nd grade will also come up along with the 4th and 5th grade Corrugated Cardboard Relief Prints.

Objectives:

1. Explore Geometric design, Basic shapes (Circle, Square, & Triangle), and the play of Vertical & Horizontal Lines
2. Practice Relief Printing (printing plate, inking plate, embossing, & color print registration)

Materials:

1. Each student will need two 8 inch by 8 inch pieces of white paper,
   one 8 inch by 8 inch corrugated cardboard, and one 8 inch by 8 inch firm
   board as base plate to create their printing plate, and then lots of paper
   larger than the printing plates to make the prints.
2. The class will share a "Rubbing Plate" (made out of a larger than 8
   inch by 8 inch piece of corrugated cardboard to be used for crayon rubbing
   lines), pencils, basic shape stencils, scissors, glue, polymer medium,
   printing inks, rollers (brayers), wooden spoons, colored markers, crayons, colored papers, etc. 

Vocabulary:

Geometric - Op Art - Relief Print - Rotate - Vertical/Horizontal - Registration - Embossed print

Motivation/Instruction:

1. Optional: show examples of Op Art using geometric shapes
2. Optional: show examples of relief prints using geometric shapes (Judy Pfaff is a good one to use).
3. Demonstrate steps

    
Figure 1. Crayon rubbing and templates                   Figure 2. Make a plan using templates
   
Figure 3. mock up using rubbing and plate               Figure 4. Embossed print and plate

Steps:

1. On the class "Rubbing Plate", line up a 8 inch by 8 inch white paper
   to create parallel lines over the paper's surface by rubbing with a black
   crayon (Robin makes crayon "cakes" for this using melted crayons) See figure 1.
2. Use the collection of basic shapes stencils to make a design where
   the shapes do not overlap or go off the edge. See figure 2.
3. Make a mock up of the printing plate by cutting out the shapes and
   rotating them until a design is created that is worth repeating with the
   corrugated cardboard. Glue down design on another sheet of white paper.
   (This can be a finished project by itself.) Using the same stencils, repeat
   the design on the smooth side of the 8 inch by 8 inch corrugated cardboard,
   cut out, and glue to a firm board base plate. See figure 3.
4. Once the printing plate is glued down, paint with a sealant (polymer
   medium). Before printing with ink, an embossed (inkless print) print can be
   printed. This works better with dampened paper (plastic wrap can be used to prevent paper from sticking to plate) See figure 4.
5. Roll ink onto plate applying thin layer of ink. Gently center printing paper over plate (on clean newspaper surface). Rub back of paper with flat side of wooden spoon to transfer ink. Pull print. Place prints on drying rack to dry.
6. The first black ink print can be used as a template to make colored
   registered printing papers for further printing exploring the relationship
   between an unchanged image (the printing plate) and embellishment (doctored
   printing paper). See example above. Place printing paper over dry print. Arrange colored paper onto paper (fadeless paper or tissue paper). Glue paper shapes in place (glue sticks work well). Marker color may also be done on blank paper placed over dry print. Register inked plate on top of color accented paper - carefully turn over to pull print. Many good examples can be found in the Ann Arbor Student Gallery.
7. Class critique

Extension:

More advanced students could print on different colors of paper - then cut dry prints a part and rearrange - piece different colors together like a puzzle alternating colors. Glue.

Assessment Rubric: (adapted from Marianne Galyk)

Student Comments:

Teacher Comments:

National Standards (standards covered depend on how much discussion you have)

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