Simple Printing Project

I've been spending the last couple of days re-arranging and straightening out the studio and came across a printing project that I did with my kids years ago. It's very simple and doesn't require very much in terms of supplies.

Paper, pencil, scissors, Styrofoam (found in grocery stores for vegetables or meat), lino block ink or textile ink, roller.

Cut silhouettes of whatever you would like to print. I drew mine out on paper first and then traced the outline into the styrofoam and cut it out.

The Styrofoam can be mounted on corrugated cardboard or wood for stability. You can also add other bits too. If you do words, make sure you write them out backwards so they print the right way.

Scoop out some ink and spread it around either on a piece of glass or a Styrofoam tray. Get a nice even coat of ink on your roller and roll it over the "plate"/Styrofoam image. Lay the paper or fabric (depending on what you've chosen) carefully on top of your "plate" and press evenly.

This print is not the same bear that was shown in Styrofoam as he's walking in the same direction which wouldn't happen of course. But because I just was printing a "test" using cheap newsprint, you can see the texture that happens from the reaction of ink on the Styrofoam.

I printed up a bunch of these using different colour broadcloth and sewed them into books. 

A more simple way of printing with Styrofoam is to just draw directly onto the Styrofoam with a ball-point pen. Press very hard so that there is a deep line made into the Styrofoam. Roll the ink over the "plate" and print. My 7-year-old made this print for a Christmas card.

 I will be away
for a couple of weeks.

Take Care