High School Printmaking Unit: Post Nine -- Hand Carved Stamps

As the students continued their exploration of printmaking the stamp project was transitional. It acted as the bridge between what they had been doing thus far and the more complex project that lay ahead. The complex project being reductive block prints (which will be featured in the next post). To familiarize the students with the carving tools they would be using and with the the subtractive nature of block printing (pretty much the opposite of collograph plate building), I decided that a simple stamp making project was in order.

To make the stamps, the students used 1" square cut erasers (obtained at the local dollar store). Six stamps could be made using each 3-pack of erasers (the erasers were cut in half). Technically if the students carved both sides, each pack could make 12 stamps.

The concepts the students worked with were symmetry and abstraction. Each carved stamp, when printed had to be a component of a symmetrical design. This will be clearly understood when viewing the finished products. To help the students to understand the concepts, I relied heavily on demonstration and visual aides. Without the demonstration, I feel that students would have surely struggled. Part of the demonstration, of course, included safety and handling of the tools (xacto knives and lino-cutters).

To colorize the stamps the students moved away from printing ink. Instead water-based markers were used. This allowed the students more control in the color patterns, but at the same time they had to work fast because the pigment would dry quickly. If the students took too long to apply the stamp to the paper, the print would not show up very well. Aside from the carving, timing was a big challenge that many students had to work out on their own.

Unlike the other projects, this one only produced one or two finished pieces per student. Here are some of the finished stamp prints:

The artist whose work the students were asked to compare the project with was Escher. The students easily found parallels between their stamp designs and the tessellations created by the artist. They also truly expressed an appreciation for the complexity of the tessellations by reflecting back on the challenges they faced in creating their own symmetrical imagery.

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Eight -- Embossed Prints, A Mini Lesson

Those students who finished the collograph project early or who simply wanted to experiment with embossed prints used objects and materials found in the classroom or brought from home. Some students attempted to emboss old keys or paperclips, while some cut cardboard and built printing plates. Embossing was a natural extension of collograph printing because much of the approach is the same. All that is missing is the ink. Embossed prints don't photograph very well, however, so it is difficult to appreciate them unless viewing them in person.

Here are a few of the more successful embossing explorations:

 

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Seven-- Collographs - The Pressure Is On!

After the students had time to build their collograph plates (about three classes) and print by hand-rubbing (one more class), it was time to introduce the printing press. The room I was in had two presses available - a very large press that allowed students to work on larger paper or team up and pull two prints at once, and a small table top press that was easier to crank. Students still preferred the excitement of using the larger press, though!

The small printing press.

The major difference between working by hand and working on the press was that the paper needed to be prepared for use on the press. This meant that the students had to soak their paper in water for a few minutes and blot out the excess moisture. For some this was trial and error because the paper would end up too wet and stick to the printing plate or come apart. Wetting the paper allowed the pressure of the machine to press the paper into all the recesses, pulling ink with more saturation and effectively embossing the prints at the same time. (There will be another post on embossing, which some students who finished early experimented with).

The general consensus among the students was that they felt the prints pulled on the press were more successful. They liked how the press brought out texture and how the ink was more saturated.

Here are some beautiful prints made using the printing presses:

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Six -- Collographs (by Hand)

After a thorough exploration of monoprinting techniques, the students were introduced to the collograph. This is a great printmaking project (even as a stand alone, separate from the printmaking unit) because it uses a lot of recyclables and therefore is kinder to an art teacher's limited budget. I did splurge a little and purchase pre-cut 5" x 7" pieces of chipboard for the students to use at bases for their printing plates. They brought in their own thin cardboard (mostly cereal boxes) to cut out and collage onto the plate. Some students did try using corrugated cardboard, which is more difficult to cut and does produce a distinctly different print quality. Twine was yet another optional material that a few students chose to integrate into their designs (you'll see a sample of this in the next post).

Since the process of spreading out the ink is about the same throughout all of the printmaking methods in the unit, I focused more on the building up of the printing plate. The students were given a prompt of creating a design abstracted from nature. This was perhaps the most challenging aspect of the entire project. Once they had the design drawn out, they transferred the image to the cardboard and then carefully cut it out with an x-acto knife and glued it to the chipboard base. Elmer's glue (not the washable kind) works great and can also be used  to seal in the entire printing surface.

In terms of the printing of the plate and application of the ink, I encouraged students to be a bit more adventurous with color choice and also to consider off-set or layered printing. This would further abstract their imagery and also create greater visual interest.

Initially students were asked to pull their prints using a hand-rubbing approach. The next printing day would allow them to explore the use of a printing press (see the next post).

Here are some of the prints that were made using hand-rubbing with a barren:

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Five -- Monoprints Method Four

The fourth and final method the students explored while making monoprints was the most challenging for them, mainly because it required them to use very little ink at all. In addition the ink, once rolled out over the entire surface of the plexi-glass, had to be left to dry for a few minutes before using it to pull a print.

As the ink dried to a tacky state the students worked out a few sketches of what they would like their images to be. These sketches would then be placed over a second clean sheet of paper which was placed gently over the ink. Using a sharp pencil or a wooden skewer students could trace over their drawn lines. They had to keep their hands from pressing on the paper as they traced, which presented a second challenge. If they allowed their hands to rest on the paper and press down the pressure would transfer the ink to the paper and potentially ruin their imagery.

The process is very similar to using carbon paper in transferring one image to another.

Here are a few of the more successful prints:

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Four -- Monoprints Method Three

Methods one and two were both such smashing successes that I upped the ante with method three. Method three of the monoprint section of the printmaking unit for the high school students required them to use some advance planning in the creation of their prints. Although I'm sure some of them put some thought into their previous prints, for the most part it was all about very spontaneous exploration. And although I fully encouraged continued exploration with the different processes we were using throughout the entire unit, I felt it was time they did some pre-planning. So as a homework assignment (and really I give so few of those when teaching art) the students were asked to make four simple 9 x 12 sketches. These sketches were used to develop their ideas in class.

As part of the third class on monoprinting I introduced using black ink. Up until then the ink choices had only been color because I did not want their prints to get too murky, but for this method black was important. The students spread out the black ink on the plexi-plates and used tools to clear ink away in selected areas. The areas corresponded to their sketched ideas. Then they pulled black and white prints (no color yet). Once those prints had time to dry a little, they added color to them in selective areas to create either representational or abstracted imagery. Some students tried doing this by "eye-balling" where the color should be placed on the plexi so that it would show up in the appropriate area of the print. Others were very methodical and placed the black and white print upside down under the plexi so they could still see it faintly through the back of the paper. This allowed them to use more control and precision when applying the ink for the color areas. And there were also students who layered the color ink over the black ink. So many options became available the more they experimented.

As always, there were so many prints when the class was over. Here is a small selection:

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Three -- Monoprints Method Two

The exploration of monoprint continued with the students as they took some tentative exploratory swipes at the ink. For the second method of making monoprints we kept the pattern and movement theme, but we went bigger (9 x 12 or so). To obtain neater edges I encouraged the students to mask the borders of their printing papers with tape, which could be easily removed once the prints were dry. This was helpful because I was working with various sizes of plexi as the printing plates and some of them were much larger than the papers.

As before the students applied the ink onto pieces of plexi-glass. I began offering more suggestions for how much to use, like comparing the amount of ink to the amount of toothpaste you might squeeze onto your toothbrush. Some students clearly use A LOT of toothpaste. But for most this analogy helped them avoid using too much ink. The ink was spread around with brayers the same as before, but now something new was introduced. Students were asked to manipulate the ink once it was rolled out. They could use stiff brushes (the ones that would normally be tossed in the trash), scraps of matt board, toothpicks, palette knives, q-tips dipped in water, tissues -- pretty much anything they could think to use was fair game.

Again we ended up with hundreds of prints, but here is a small selection:

High School Printmaking Unit: Post Two -- Monoprints Method One

The very first approach to printmaking that I introduced the students to was the monoprint. The monoprint, as it turns out, has many methods, based on how ink is applied and/or manipulated. To start them out slowly, we used very small 2" x 3" plexi-glass plates. The first method we used was just applying ink to the plexi, which allowed students to develop a sensitivity to how much ink was actually needed and how much would be too much (causing smudging, etc.). Although the finished prints are small, they are all very unique and very interesting. Most of the students tried to incorporate some type of pattern or visual movement (the only "how should it look" suggestions that I gave to them).

Here is just a sampling of the prints that were created (there were well over 100 prints pulled):

High School Printmaking Unit: Post One

So, I know I said I was giving up substitute teaching, but turns out I CAN'T not teach. Teaching art is too much a part of who I am. So, when I was offered the position of long-term art sub covering for a maternity leave for the last three months of the school year I had to say yes. Even though it meant a lot more work than anticipated and juggling my existing job as an office manager in the afternoons and evenings, it was a great experience.

Now, I know it is summer vacation and most, if not all, teachers are taking the time to do anything other than think of teaching. Despite that I am going to take the time, now that I have it, to share with everyone a very successful printmaking unit that I developed for the high school students this spring. I hope you enjoy seeing the fruits of their hard work -- I really pushed them beyond their usual limits.

For this first post... just a teaser. This is what the display case looked like outside the art room. I added new prints with each new project so that the case provides a fairly complete overview of the print unit (it is only missing the last few projects). Having them all on display in the corridor and in the art room itself made have an end of unit group critique a whole lot easier, too. The number stickers allowed students to reference the works easily and often anonymously.

Ant Picnic! A First Grade Illustration Lesson

For this lesson first graders were asked to think about picnics, specifically about pests that might be unwanted at picnics. A few guessed bears, a few guessed lions (wonder where they picnic...) and most immediately said ants!

Students were also asked to think about the ant point of view -- low to the ground! They loved this idea, especially when they learned how to make the picnic blanket look almost 3D by incorporating a little perspective. Not every student grasped this idea, but those that did really liked it.

Then we talked about ant anatomy. How many parts, legs, etc.? What are they called (head, thorax, abdomen)? We even did some math facts. 3 legs on one side plus 3 legs on the other equals 6! Plus 3 parts equals 9! We even tried some multiplication, which some could answer 3 legs times 2 equals 6!

With the ants drawn and all parts accounted for, the most fun part could begin. Students had to decide what food the pesky ant would steal from the picnic. The food was drawn being carried away on the ants' backs or sometimes in their mouths (which a few students added pincers to).

Here are some of the super cool ant drawings!

This ant is carrying a strawberry and heading towards the "rot beer". Check out those perspective lines on the blanket!

Believe it or not, that is an apple on its back. Love the detailing on the blanket!

Another apple thief! This is a "girl" ant because of the eyelashes. Some of the boys in class informed me that girl ants stay inside because they don't want to get dirty. Only the boy ants find the food. How funny is that?

This ant has passed over the healthy fruit and milk and opted for an ice cream sundae!

An example with pincers. I think that is a banana on the right.

There were a few patriotic ants (above and below). This one is a "forth" of July ant! Again some great perspective happening on the checkerboard blanket. And cool patterns on the ant itself!

This patriotic ant steals the food while the people are distracted by the fireworks display! And it has segmented antennae instead of just lines.

Hand Renderings: Grade 5

I am excited to say that I have been subbing for another art teacher all this week and it has been so much fun! This is especially true because I have been given free reign on many of the lessons and have been trying out some new ideas with the students!

The first one I will post about may be my favorite this week -- although it would be a tough choice since all the projects have been great in their own ways.

My Demonstration Drawing

The fifth grade students were presented with the challenge of drawing their own hands from observation only. Cue a few moans here when they were told absolutely no tracing. But after the initial and expected complaints that it was too hard to do, they buckled down and realized with focus they could achieve surprising results.

Once the hands were drawn students could choose from the following options:
1.) Draw more hands in varying poses
2.) Overlap hands
3.) Crop some of the imagery
4.) Add text (such as a name or phrase)
5.)Work collaboratively with a partner

Then with the drawings complete and gone over in permanent marker, students could add color with watercolor paints using any technique they chose. These ended up including some of the following:
1.) Paint everything one color
2.) Paint everything varying colors, no pattern
3.) Paint everything with a pattern
4.) Paint only selective areas (i.e. background or hands)
5.) Use splattering with care

This one is pretty amazing! I love the varied lettering and attention to detail.

Here are more drawings -- I think they are all rather awesome since this was the students' first experience with drawing hands without tracing and with no rough drafts!
:

I envision this lesson as part one of a two part idea. In the second part, I would love to expand on the use of hands by incorporating them into a portrait drawing lesson.