monotype print

I am happy to share with you that it is possible to make large sized prints even with small relief plates.

This is a panoramic picture of my studio wall today. The soft plate relief prints on the left are 16″ x 20″ and a variety of sizes down to 4″ square on the right.

In this image you can see can see the different styles of marks that are possible with soft foam relief plates:

1. Line drawings
2. Bold shapes
3. Water color painterly marks
4. Mottled texture of the plate

I am sure that you can make this technique your own. I think the key is to make lots of plates and prints.

I have piles and piles of plates and a few that are my favorites. One challenge can be finding foam, especially if the grocers in your area do not use foam plates for food storage.

There are 2 art supply options, sticky back craft foam and scratch art board. Each type of foam holds a line differently and transfers ink in a different consistency. Experimentation with the tools that are available to you will allow you to develop your own style of relief printing. More about supplies here.

I would love to share what I know with you and help you explore soft plate relief printing.

Read all the details on the printmaking workshop page and join us today.

Even with low tech printmaking processes, the resulting impression varies quite a bit.

I have been playing with soft plate relief prints and the process of making a mark is much slower that gelatin printmaking, but the style of print cannot be attained with the gel print process.

The gray and black images above are relief prints made with soft foam plates and black and sepia image is a gel print. The each have a different feel.

When I get into relief printing mode, I simply and get more graphic. Where as my gel prints can be more fluid and textural.

For me gelatin printing is fast and spontaneous. I can pull a lot prints in a short period of time. I like that!

I use trace monoprinting techniques when I want an expressive loose line drawing.

When I am trying to get flat uniform layers, I use screen printing processes.

 

If I want to get a detailed, fine line impression I use an emulsion style screen.

So even if you are printmaking at home without a fancy studio, it is possible to make many different kinds of prints.

The magic happens when you take some of the techniques and combine them with bookmaking, drawing or collage.

Happy printing!

One way to approach a day of gelatin printmaking is to grab 3 stencils and a stack of paper and print with abandon.

I did that with a bird, branch and moon stencil. Enjoy the evolution of a series of prints.

I like to keep it simple and make tiny changes in ink or stencils or placement. Those tiny changes can make a big impact.

If you would like to explore gelatin printmaking with me, then join us in the online printmaking class, Make Monotypes .

It is a 4 week class in which we will print with ink on paper, using the gelatin plate.

It is ok to print with the same colors and subject matter! All the famous artists do it.

I love blue and yellow. And I really love printing with thin flat weeds and grasses.

Today I challenged my readers to pull 10 prints.  I often do this for myself when I just need to get started. Before I know it I have a pile of prints and even a few that I like.

I invite you to drop everything and go pull 10 prints. Enjoy!

Today I tested some stencils and played with colors that I usually don’t like.

I made a bunch of ugly prints. But then I had the idea to over print the prints with my favorite color and favorite stencil to see if I could save any of the ugly prints.

And it worked for a few of the prints. 🙂