Polystyrene printing

When teaching children I use polystyrene tile printing a lot as an introduction to the principle of relief printing as well as colour layering. I did a short blog post a while back about tools and inking technique.

Total Art Soul has a GREAT idea for putting polystyrene containers to good use after you've emptied them of your takeout. Use them for printing. The

The designs, typically linear of Juan Miro, inspired us to realize our prints with styrofoam in the 6th grade classes. This material was cut from used food trays. The small plates have become the m…

This post follows on from Gathering Marks and Tearing Paper to Appreciate Prints by Goya, Turner and Cornelius at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and Monoprinting Inspired by Goya, Turner and Cornelius in the Education Room, and shows how teachers used Plasticine to print textures. The session was facilitated by Paula Briggs and Sheila Ceccarelli from AccessArt and Kate Noble from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Since I have been exploring my interest in printmaking again, especially monotypes and drypoint, mainly because they don`t require so much expensive equipment, etc, I bought some cheap styrofoam, kind of like thin polystyrene, to try out some ideas and compositions. This is used a lot in schools, since it`s cheap and easy to make marks on, but also by professional artists and craftspeople for its versatility. Because it`s cheap, you tend not to panic about messing up and wasting expensive…

Kids learn about the fine art of printmaking using flat pieces of styrofoam, tempera paint, and rollers to make prints.

Since I've spent the last couple of weeks in Printmaking Land with my second and third graders, I thought I'd share everything I know about printmaking in the elementary art room! I started to record a podcast episode which quickly turned into TWO podcast episodes. There's a lot to printmaking in the elementary art room but none of it is scary, difficult or even all that messy! My kids love it and so do I. So I'll be sharing both podcast episodes here as well as my favorite lessons. Be sure…

Learn how to make multiple prints for greeting cards and art for framing using a styrofoam produce tray and paint roller. Terrific art activity for kids of all ages from preschoolers to teens.

It's easy to make a print from a styrofoam plate or meat tray. Start by drawing a simple design on the styrofoam with a ball point pen. Impress the design just hard enough to make an indentation without going through the styrofoam. Next roll out some printing ink (or acrylic paint) on a tray. If you don't have a breyer you can roll the ink or paint with a small sponge paint roller. Roll out a thin layer of ink (or paint) over the styrofoam. Notice the ink lays just on top and doesn't flow…