Foam on the Range
Hello! This is my first post for Whip up writing about children’s crafts. I blog most every day about art and design at Art Esprit. I make my living as an artist and love teaching. I hope you enjoy this project!
Every child loves to make marks of their own. Children can create multiple works of art for suitable for framing or sending as cards with an easy relief printmaking process called foam or polystyrene printing.
- Create a square or other shape of recycled polystyrene (remember: meat trays need to be sanitized!) Make sure that there are no sides to the plate by snapping them off for a deckled edge or cutting them off for a straight edge.
- Give the child a blunt pencil, crayon, spoon, hair pick, popsicle stick or cork and let them create a pattern or drawing on the block.There is no wrong way to do this as even the slightest pressure on the foam will create a printing plate relief. Look around for interesting found objects as well to create marks in the foam. Try pressing in found objects such as keys, bow pasta noodles held on end, or sea shells. Children as young as 2 yrs old can hold an object and make their mark.
- Lay out a lot of newspaper to protect your work area.
Using waterbased printmaking ink and a brayer, apply the ink sparingly to the plate, first by rolling it on an old cookie sheet or another piece of polystyrene. This is called “tempering” the ink and keeps it smooth. If you don’t have brayer and ink on hand, you can get “pretty good” results with thick tempera paint with a drop or two of liquid dish soap added and applied with a brush. (Remember though, the brushes will leave marks in the paint too!) Take a sheet of paper to print on and position it over the plate.
- Set it down on the plate and have those little hands rub it gently but throughly over the entire surface. Pull the print off the plate and voila! A printmaker is born!
Experiment with different types of paper. Try painting with acrylic paint color for a background first. (let it dry!) Try it first with simple 20# copy paper to see if you like the print. Make sure you have plenty of paper around as it is addictive! Hang on a clothes line to dry or in a safe flat place overnight. Clean up is simple with soap and water.
This method has been taken to a very high level by artist Annette Mitchell who has written a wonderfuly easy to follow book on the subject: “Foam is where the heart is”. (For those of you who like to play as much as your children)
September 7th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
gorgeous! was having a slow afternoon & then saw this. such a sweet simple idea. i know a young someone who will adore this project… i think i will too. thanks xo
September 7th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
that looks like heaps of fun. Next thing you know they will be creating 4 colour process, lithographic prints from limestones. I promise to try this one.
September 7th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
This is a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing!
September 8th, 2006 at 4:21 am
I learned this method in Art for Young Children at San Jose State University (crap! That was 19 years ago…) Thanks for the memories and a great tutorial.
September 8th, 2006 at 6:48 am
So glad to see you on Whip Up Susan! What a fantastic project to do with the kids. Thanks for the clear details on type of paint and exactly how to do this.
September 8th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
the tiny prints in this installation were all made this way–literally thousands (maybe even 10,000 by the end?!) of little stamps/relief prints from foam.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boiledart/186007340/
September 8th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Fantastic!! Thank you so much – Im looking for ideas as im going to start teaching small children soon. This is perfect for me!
September 11th, 2006 at 3:34 am
what a wonderful idea !
can’t wait to test it with my little one 4 yours old !