Mixed Media Printmaking Blog

Collecting books – as art materials

mixed media printmaking / Linda Germain / February 22, 2021

I love to recycle and reuse stuff as art supplies. This is pretty easy to do as a paper based artist.

Books as ART Materials is an online class that starts soon. I am getting ready for class and realized that I have 5 big boxes of books, book parts and sample pieces. Hmmm?

Most books will have some positive quality:

great cover cloth
strong book board
wonderfully aged pages
spine bits and aparts

If you are thinking about joining us in Books as ART Materials, then now is a good time to start collecting old books.

Qualities and features to look for in old books:

Old but not precious
music book
big kids book
cloth covers
foreign language
dictionary
any book that inspires you

I hope you have the time to join us in this online class. You could start re-purposing a book today and create some found word poems. This can be very meditative is you approach it with a playful sense of discovery.

Enjoy!

READ the details about the online class – Books as ART Materials

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3 Uses for Glycerin – printmaking

monotype print / Linda Germain / February 1, 2021

Whenever I am at my local big box store, I always check to see if they have glycerin in stock. And if they do I buy a couple of bottles.

With pandemic many folks are using glycerin to make hand sanitizer, so it can be challenging to find.

1 – Make a long lasting gelatin plate

I use 2 bottles of glycerin to make the homemade gelatin plate. This is a malleable printing plate that is great for making monotypes with out a printing press.

You can get the FREE recipe and make your own printing plate here. With some time and playful practice you will be making your own beautiful monotype prints.

2 – Use glycerin to preserve botanicals

I use a lot of leaves and ferns as masking stencils. Some of these materials I have had for years because I preserved them in a glycerin and water bath.

Leaves and ferns can last for years and be used to make lovely monotype impressions. Try it! Get some instructions here.

3 – Use glycerin as a retarder with Speedball Water based block printing ink

For some reason retarder is a little bit expensive and only sold in smaller tubes. But luckily one of my students told me that a few drops of glycerin can be used to slow the drying time of the Speedball water based inks.

I use it for this purpose when I make trace monotype prints. I works nicely to keep the ink alive and workable.

If you are interested in learning more about printmaking without a press, then check out the current online classes.

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Let the wilderness support your art practice

monotype print / Linda Germain / January 13, 2021

Most recently I have been giving myself permission to sit by the lake in the woods. There is a tiny conflicting voice that is telling me to get to “work”.

But I am finding that the gift of that time by the lake makes it easier to get to work later. Hmmm?

So I offer you this challenge:

Find some wilderness nearby, woods, lake, ocean, park
Go there walk, sit and breathe it in
See if this gift of time in nature improves your “work” time

I get many ideas and inspiration from the woods:

stencils, weeds and ferns
shadow shapes for masking stencils
twigs and branches for relief plates

Hope I have encouraged you to walk in the woods today.

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Boundaries create Space – art approach

inspiration / Linda Germain / January 7, 2021

Boundaries give you limited choices and then you figure out how to make things work.

What would be a boundary in gelatin printmaking?

Limit your stencils to 3 – 5
Work with only 2 colors
Print 3 layers or less

So often we are so excited to play with lots of stencils and mark making tools. And as a result our prints can be confusing and chaotic.

So as the physical excitement to use all your tools at once mellows, I challenge you to create a boundary for your next printmaking session. Pick something that supports your style. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but that when the magic starts to happen.

One way to impose boundaries is to join a class, then the teacher gives you exercises and assignments.

The 100 Print Project starts soon and is structured to guide you to take many small steps to create a 100 print installation. READ the details on the printmaking workshop page.