Activities by Mary Erickson, Ph.D., and Arizona art teacher, Marissa Vidrio Step-by-Step Printmaking: “Parts of Me”

pencil paper craft foam Styrofoam food tray scissors non-water-based glue tempera paint (or printing ink) brayer palette (clear acrylic seen under brayer) construction paper scrap paper newspaper You need these materials to make a “Parts of Me” print.

To make a “Parts of Me” print, start by sketching things that show “who you are.” For example, include things from your family, school or culture. This student used sketches to plan and organize her ideas. She combined several things about herself and placed them into a letter “C” shape to represent her middle name.

1.He began with a list of things that were important to him. 2.He made a sketch that combined his three ideas. 3.If you look carefully, you can see he simplified his drawing by erasing details. Look at how this student also used a sketch to plan and organize his ideas.

A teacher made these examples. The first sketch combined images of her hand, a pair of scissors and a cactus. She realized she had to simplify the design to make a printing plate. So she drew the new design on the craft foam and began to cut it with scissors.

The teacher simplified the image more by including only one of the round cactus fruit shapes. She also cut away an 1/8 of an inch strip around each shape so the lines and shapes did not touch. (She made cactus spines by folding and cutting notches in the craft foam.)

Next, the teacher showed students how to spread glue evenly over the back of one shape at a time. Then she set it carefully in place on the Styrofoam tray.

If the shapes are too close to the edge of the tray, it is important to trim off the sides of the tray. You will need the extra space to be able to roll the brayer loaded with paint evenly over the top of all the shapes.

After protecting the table with newspaper, place paint on the (clear) acrylic palette and load the brayer with paint. Next, roll the brayer back and forth over the plate to spread the paint evenly.

To make a practice print, carefully place a piece of scrap paper over the plate, being sure to hold one edge of the paper so it does not move. Apply even pressure on the back of the paper with your whole hand - not your fingers. Then, gently pull the practice print up from one corner.

Mixing colors is a fun way to experiment with your print.

Mixing paint colors, background colors and textures also can be an interesting experiment with printmaking because you can make more than one print.

Printmaking allows artists to make more than one print from the same plate. Look how this student evaluated the prints he made. He was able to pick the best ones and learn what made some more successful than others.

You can also use pieces of your prints to make collages. This teacher made even more versions of her print by sewing along the edges, using markers and combining different colors and textures to show “parts of herself.”

Muted colors are not pure. Adding white, black or an opposite color turns bright colors to muted colors. Besides thinking about which colors to use, students also had to think about making their prints with bright colors or muted colors. Bright colors are intense or pure.

Which of these student prints has a muted background color?

This student made all three of her these prints on different color backgrounds. Can you tell on which of these three prints she used a different color of paint?

This student made prints using both bright and muted paint colors and bright and muted backgrounds. Here’s the student’s quote about his artwork:

This student chose muted colors for both paint and paper. Why do you think she chose muted colors rather than bright ones?

Which color combination do you think best fits the mood or message of this student’s print?

What did this students do to make her prints more interesting? What message was she trying to express?

Special thanks to artist and art teacher Marissa Vidrio and her 5th grade students at Bret R. Traver Elementary School in the Cartwright Elementary School District.