Monoprinting | New Year, New Hobby 2024
*bittersweet music*
Hey fam! Welcome to the final week of the New Year, New Hobby 2024 Series.
I can hardly believe we’ve reached the final hobby experiment: Monoprinting!
“Monoprinting is a form of printmaking in which an image is made from a smooth surface or ‘plate’ coated in printing ink such as a sheet of glass or metal. In contrast with other printing techniques, only one final image is made, making the technique closer to drawing or painting than other print processes.”
This one is very near and dear to my heart as printmaking and collage has been my medium of choice for the past couple of years. Gelli printing being my favorite so far. So much so that I taught classes on it for a year and have made some YouTube videos on it. I love it because it calls for less fancy equipment than some other forms of printmaking.
This week we’re trying out monoprinting using even LESS fancy supplies than a gelli plate.
TUTORIAL
For this week’s hobby experiment you’re going to need:
Sheet of Cardboard
Aluminum Foil
Plastic Bag or Cling Wrap
Paper, Magazines, or any paper like Surface to print on
Brayer, Large Paint Brush, or Foam Brush
Paint
Random Objects you don’t mind getting paint on
Scrap Paper to protect your work surface
Before we do any of the super fun stuff we need to assemble our printing plates! We’re going to make a total or three to see the different results we can get.
If you don’t have three separate pieces of cardboard you’ll start by cutting the sheet of cardboard you do have into three pieces. The sizes of the pieces are up to you. As long as the plastic or foil can wrap all the way around it’s designated piece of cardboard, you’re gucci!
To make our plastic bag printing plate we’ll place our cardboard sheet inside the plastic bag. We’ll want to press out as much air as we can, making the front and back insides of the plastic bag as flush as possible with the front and back sides of the piece of cardboard.
Now we can tie off the excess plastic bag from the cardboard inside. Make sure that the knot is as close to the cardboard as you can get it so that it doesn’t have much space to move around while you’re printing.
Making the cling wrap printing plate is pretty simple. Just wrap your cardboard piece in cling wrap both vertically and horizontally. Because cling wrap is its own best friend, it’s easy to pull it taut, stick it to itself, and get a tight no-wriggle fit around the cardboard.
The aluminum printing plate is just as easy to put together. While it doesn’t stick to itself, it holds whatever shape you put it in. For this printing plate wrap the aluminum foil around the cardboard with enough foil to fold over all four sides of the cardboard to the back. This will create a firm enough hold to keep the foil from sliding around too much while printing!
Now that our printing plates are assembled, we can get into making prints!!!
This is how I typically setup my printing station
I’m right-handed so you can just flip it and reverse it if you’re left-handed.
When I use new materials for any medium I enjoy creating a baseline by swatching my materials. You can skip this part if you want to and hop right to the experimentation portion of this tutorial.
When I swatch printmaking supplies that typically consists of pulling a flat single-color print using the new plate(s), brush(es), and/or brayer(s) I’m working with.
I did just that this time around. I pulled flat single-color prints from each plate using a paint brush, a foam brush, and a brayer. This left me with nine prints total to start that illustrated the bare minimum of what these supplies were capable of.
To make or “pull” a print you’ll need to start by putting paint onto your printing plate.
Spread the paint with whatever applicator you’re using.
Put a slice of paper onto the painted plate and press down on the paper.
Life the paper from the plate and VOILA! You’ve made a print!
From here, it’s truly all fun and games! The fun thing about monoprinting is, like most of the mediums I indulge in and suggest to y’all- there’s really no way to do it wrong! It’s the epitome of experimenting, playing, and seeing what happens!
I wouldn’t want to hinder your creativity by continuing with specified steps…
But I will give some technique suggestions you can try out with whatever colors and whatever tools you have at your disposal.
Experiment with different brush strokes!
Create layered prints!
Use random objects as stamps!
Make marks directly onto prints without using a plate!
The printmaking world is truly your oyster.
The vastness of printmaking as a medium represents all that I believe in as a creative. It’s about experimentation. It’s about the details as much as the bigger picture. The process of printmaking can be seen in the finished piece. Every piece you make can be a piece of art and every piece you mess up has the potential to accidentally become your favorite thing you’ve made. Printmaking is a work that’s messy for a purpose and on purpose. It stains your hands your hands with the paints and inks. It stains your mind with ideas for the next piece you want to try. It leaves an impression on the folks you share it with. It can lead the way for or finish off any piece you’re working on.
Printmaking has the possibility of doing all the things and communicating all the messages and fulfilling all the creative needs you have when you set out to make something.
And with that… The New Year, New Hobby 2024 series has come to a close.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed taking part in this series as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together.
I’ve learned a lot while writing and publishing this series that I will be taking with me into future blogging.
The offer still stands to share whatever you’ve made with me!
If you’re one of my newsletter besties, you can reply directly to the weekly emails I send you about the week's hobby experiment. If you aren’t already a newsletter bestie, go ahead and fill out the form at the bottom of any page on my website to join the exclusive club! You can also tag me on Instagram (@KadaziaSparkles) or use the hashtag (#DoneWithDazia) so I can come bear witness to your hobby greatness!
As always…
Until next time, Hobby-On Fam!