Palo Alto Libraries Monoprint Teen Workshop

Colography is a fun type of monoprinting and a nice intro to printmaking. I conducted a workshop on Monday for the Palo Alto Libraries teen summer program. Here are some of the results. This is good project for all ages. Tip: remind students that if they include words they must be created backwards as the print will be a mirror image of the printing plate.

Below: Printing plate being inked:
























































Above Printing plate and print.

If you want to try it you will need:

1. glass plates with edges taped up (you can get scrap glass from a glass shop)
2. water based printing ink
   
3. rollers for inking and for pressing
4. paper for printing (I use Japanese calligraphy paper...cheap from Daiso)
5. card stock such as cereal boxes (to cut and glue down)
6. matt boards. These are the printing plates (You can get free from framing shops, just ask for scraps)
7. white glue
8. hot melt gun (to attach lace and other objects)
9. toothpicks (good for creating raised lines)
10. pencils
11. scissors
12. paper towels to lay plates on
13. small container of water (you may need to add drops of water to plates of glass if ink gets too thick)

Step One: Cut and tear pieces of cardstock paper (cereal boxes) and glue down on to mattboard with white glue.


















Step Two: Attach other elements such as lace and buttons. Attach these using a hot melt gun.


















Step Three: Squeeze some ink onto the glass (one color per glass plate). Using a roller spread the ink out so that you have an even layer on the roller. Roll over the printing plate. You can also use a brush to apply the paint to the printing plate.



















Step Four: Take a sheet of paper and place it over the inked printing plate. Roll over the paper with a clean roller or use your fingers to lightly but firmly press down on the paper to transfer the ink.

Step Five: Peel off sheet slowing and place it wet side up on a drying rack.























Below: This print was created with quick sweeps of an inked roller to the printing plate. I love the texture! It reminds me of old barns from my childhood memories of Ohio and Kentucky. This piece was created by one of the few boys in the class. The original sketch had a maze like pattern in it. I suggested that he add bits of toothpicks to create that pattern if he wanted it to be visible in the print. Instead he decided to brush on the ink and do a print. I am so glad that he did. It is a great piece.






















Below: This print was created by drawing patterns with the hot melt gun on the printing plate. A diagonal line was created from toothpicks. The student applied different colors to the printing plate before pulling her print. The result is really beautiful and I hope it was framed and displayed. The diagonal line anchors the busy swirls of the hot melt lines. The two dots in opposite corners also add balancing elements. There is tension and balance in this piece.
























Below: City scape of New York City. I think this teen was Russian. I like how the simple addition of lace on the printing plate resulted in the allusion of clouds above the buildings. It took a lot of patience to create all those windows and then glue them onto the buildings on the printing plate. I enjoy how the windows are staggered on the buildings in the foreground while the windows are arranged in an orderly grid on the back building to the right. This contrast makes me think the windows on the two building in the foreground are dancing or conversion with each other.

Palo Alto Libraries Monoprint Workshop Prep

Today I tested out a monoprint (colography) project with my children and a friend's children in preparation for a workshop I will be teaching on Monday for the Palo Alto Libraries. Here are some images of their printing plates being created from cardboard and mattboard.
























The children started off by cutting out bits of cardboard, ribbon, toothpicks and plastic sushi grass. The ribbon and sushi grass were attached with hot melt glue. On child used the hot melt gun to draw lines on his board as well.









































Below are the printing plates after each child had pulled several prints with different colors. Often these plates are just as interesting and framable as the final prints.




























































































During the printing process we discovered that one could apply paint to the boards with brushes, not just with the rollers. The lines of the brush hairs created nice textures in the prints. It was quite hot today so we were frequently adding drops of water to the paint to keep it moist enough on the glass inking plates. The paper we used was Japanese calligraphy paper.

The best way to create prints with this type of printing is to ink the board and then lay the paper onto of the wet board. With a clean, dry brayer, you roll and press the paper on the board. We also used our fingers to press in the hard to reach corners and over the ribbon areas. I highly recommend having a drying rack to store these prints as they dry.
Below are images of a few of the prints they created.

Palo Alto Library Wire Insects Workshop Day 2

On Wednesday the children came back to the second workshop day to complete their wire insects and cover them with their handmade paper created on Monday.

(Completed insect below)















The papers came out nicely. Here are some samples.
























It was interesting to see the very different wire forms the students created. Each insect had its own personality.






































































One student also made a flower that was really wonderful as just a wire form.

























































My little helpers! My kids were really great fun and they helped carry my supplies and kept occupied during my teaching. They even tried out creating their own craft objects with wire and papers and clay.

Palo Alto Library Wire Insects Workshop Day 1

After the students had pressed all the sheets of paper that they wanted, we went back inside and the students started to sketch the insects they would create in wire.




















Patrick sketching his butterfly.




































Alex's sketches based on the plastic insects I brought in.












































By the end of the first class, some students had already started on their wire forms. We used floral wire.

Palo Alto Library Paper Making Workshop Day 1

Last Monday I conducted the first day of a two day workshop at Mitchell Park Library in Palo Alto. In this class for teens and pre-teens, students learned how to press recycled paper from food wrappers and other paper scraps. They learned how to use this paper to cover wire insects they created in the second workshop day.




















Above, pulling a screen with paper pulp. I make my paper making screens from plastic window screen netting and small picture frames. Just cut screen to overlap edges and use heavy duty stapler to attach it to picture frame.




















Above, adding inclusions of Japanese and Chinese food wrappers and manga to the paper vats.















Pulling a screen through the green vat. We added the coagulant to the pulp first.















Pulling a screen.





















We had four colors to choose from: blue, green, red and yellow.





















I use wooden boards for the paper pressing. You can also press onto squares of felt and place onto a drying rack. With drying boards like these you need to remind the kids to work from top to bottom in transferring paper to boards.















Luckily, it was a nice warm day so I knew the paper would dry pretty quickly overnight. If it had been a morning workshop, the paper would have been dried by late afternoon. I tape up my boards with painters tape to mark off sections for the kids to press their screens into.




















Pressing the screen against the board, the students transfer the pulp by pressing a sponge against the backside of the screen. This presses out the water and makes the pulp stick to the board.

Prepping Paper Pulp for Palo Alto Libraries

Tomorrow I start a two day workshop at Mitchell Library in Palo Alto. Today, with the help of Emily, I prepared the recycled paper pulp.





















I use Magnolia Editions paper making supplies. http://www.magnoliapaper.com/
Retention aid fixes the color to pulp and the formation aid is a coagulant that helps make thinner sheets. The formation aid needs to be prepped the day before so I made it today and will add it tomorrow to the vats. Today I added the dyes to the pulp and placed the pulp in ziplog bags.

















Tomorrow the students will add inclusions to the paper vats. They will tear up Japanese manga comics and Asian food wrappers to add to the pulp. Some papers will be shredded in a blender before they are added to the vats.








































I created an instructional sheet for how to pull the sheets of paper.