I saw a tutorial on a blog a few weeks ago about how to make scratch block mono prints using sheets of Styrofoam so this week K and I had a go at it. Of course we didn’t use ink and this was our first try but I think the results were ok considering those things.
First she drew with a pen into some cut sheets of foam that I’d collected:
Tip: Push reasonably hard to get a nice deep groove
Then she used my little brayer to roll poster paint onto the sheets
Tip: For our version we were TRYING to fill the grooves and have less paint on the flat surface, you can do it the other way around if your grooves are really deep and you use ink. If filling the grooves, make sure there is less paint on the flat surface. Also, I recommend using a sponge as Heather suggested in a previous paint related post to fill with paint before rolling. This would give the brayer a nice even thin layer of paint (I have no sponges right now so we didn’t)
Then you lay the image face down on a clean piece of paper and rub the back of the foam with a spoon or something like that.
These are her best prints. The pink one is meant to be her. I like it!
This was fun, she was amazed at the pictures she made and in the future we will try some ink I think.
