Potato Printing

We got Totally Tubular in the June First Friday Art Club.  Printmaking is a great way to personalize any surface, but cost of materials can be prohibitive.  Using the power of plants, we had cost-effective printing implements and developed new skills along the way.

Potatoes to Print

In order to make prints, an artist needs a block.  Printmaking blocks are usually made of linoleum or wood.  Linoleum is easy to carve, but expensive to supply for a free library class.  We used linoleum block carving tools to learn the proper way to cut a printing block, but took advantage of the soft surface of potatoes to equate as a printing block.

Careful Carving

Considering the sharp edges of these carving tools, careful carving was required.  We discussed the ideas of positive and negative space and how to get each image exactly as it was desired.  This concept is difficult to grasp, but once achieved, the options are endless.

Ready to Print

Once the potatoes were cut and dabbed on a towel to dry off excess moisture, students were ready to print.  We used flour sack towels as our printing surface.  Mother's Day followed this class, so a ready-made gift was achievable.

Color Palette

We used Folk Art Fabric Paints and paper plates as palettes.  Foam sponges were great for evenly applying paint to the potatoes.  It is advised to dab the potato surface with color rather than paint it on.  Just a bit of color will transfer from the potato surface to the printing surface with a little pressure.

Dab and Press

Once colors were chosen, the process was dab and press for each print made on the fabric.  Composition was considered.  Some students worked random prints across their printing surface.  Others chose to create a border.

Random Placement

Borderline Love

After mastering the dab and press method of printing with potatoes, I showed students the option of multi-colored monoprints.  A monoprint uses a regular printing block, but is treated in such a way that only one of it's kind exists.  By painting each segment of the printing block, a unique print is made.

Monoprint

That's a wrap for our Potato Printing session.  Check back in July to see how "Libraries Rock!"  Guest artist, Shannah Warwick of Blckbts, will instruct students on felting rocks.

This is an event you don't want to miss!

Register to Rock here.

Thanks for visiting.

I'll check you on the flipside in July.

xo,

Erica

Block Printing

First Friday Art Club stamped things down and got a little messy in the process in September.  We entered the world of Printmaking and created our own blocks to print.

Block Printing supplies

For simplicity, I equated Block Printing with rubber stamping.  There is a block with an image that will get ink, then stamp on a surface to print.  The idea is straightforward, but there are nuances along the way.

Printing means the image is reversed.

This class immediately followed our week long Theatre Camp and my brain was having trouble shifting into Art Gear.  Printing from a block or stamp means the image gets flipped.  What you design on the left of your block will be on the right side of your print.  This is easy enough, but the students wanted to use wording.  OH BOY!  The image above is my sample and demonstration piece.  Once I showed the students how this reversed image works, their brains clicked and they finalized their designs.

Little Fishy

We used Styrofoam scratch plates to easily achieve the image, using pencils or paint brush handles to scribe the plate. Designing the images to print held everyone up for  a bit.  There is often that Blank Page Syndrome that all artists face.  I stressed that drawing skills were not necessary to achieve great results.  Abstract imagery complimented the designs and allowed for more freedom of expression.  That reassuring message got the designs done quickly and then we hit the ink.

Puffy Cloud

We had fashionistas who preferred to print on clothing.  This Puffy Cloud was adorable!  The vertical lines are an effect from the cardboard spacer that protected the bottom layer of the shirt.

Giraffes on Safari

Giraffes were printed twice.  Students learned the brightness of an ink color in the jar might not be effective on a t-shirt.  After a too-light-to-be-seen run of yellow, this artist chose pink for her Giraffes on Safari.

Words can be tough to achieve

This student discovered the woes of wording in printmaking.  She mastered the reversed image, but still struggled with one letter.  Lessons in life....

 

Warhol-esque

This artist went bold like Andy Warhol and printed multiple colors within the same page.  A lesson on Andy Warhol is pending.  No one had even HEARD of him!  There was vague recollection when I mentioned the Campbell's Soup Can prints that made him famous.

Special thanks goes to Lynn Dates and 171 Cedar Arts Center who graciously let me borrow the brayers (the rolling tool used to transfer the ink from the block to the paper), which saved the library over $70!  Community support as simple as that makes Corning, New York a very happy place to live and work.

Check back next month when we dive into the world of Coloring Books with Maegan Cook.

Thanks for visiting!