Printmaking For A Non-Printmaker!

I love printmaking. I love the smell of the ink. The sticky sound the ink makes when you roll it out with the brayer. I especially love relief prints. There's only one thing holding me back from being a "real" printmaker... I can never keep my hands clean.

And so begins this blog. No more excuses about why art no longer has a role in my life. In less than a month I've gone from beating myself up about why I haven't made creativity part of my daily for over 6 years (!!!), to printmaking in my new studio! Lovely.

Here's a peek at what I've been up to this week...

Printed cards drying on my laundry rack.

Sewn details make the handmade-ness more tangible.

Finished cards ready to be sold.

If you're curious... these cards were printed using "scratch foam" as a printing plate. You can get the same effect by drawing on/pressing into a flat styrofoam tray with a ball point pen.

* First, I created drawings and/or text on multiple styrofoam printing plates.

* Second, I squeezed tubes of water based printing ink onto a cookie sheet, spread the ink out evenly with a brayer, then rolled the ink onto the styrofoam plate with said brayer. 

* Next, I laid the inked plate on a piece of card stock, evenly pressed and rubbed the back of the plate, then pulled the plate off of the card stock... VOILA! Gorgeous holiday cards! 

CAUTION: If you try this process, remember to write any text backwards on the styrofoam, thus making your words print legibly. Happy printing!