BLOCK PRINTING

For me, the magic of printing never gets old. When the print is revealed I always find it exciting. Printing doesn't have to be expensive either, we made our printing blocks using scraps of MDF wood and a foam sheet. For printing ink, we used acrylic printing inks but thick kids poster paint (tempera paint) will work just fine.

This is a fantastic project to make your own gift wrapping paper.

MATERIALS:

• A wooden base for your printing block or thick cardboard
• Sticky backed foam sheet or a regular foam sheet and hot glue
• Paints - we use acrylic printing inks
• Paper - long rolls of paper if you want to make wrapping paper or smaller sheets of paper
• Roller and a flat surface like a tile or plastic sheet

HOW TO:

To make your printing blocks, cut shapes from the foam sheet and stick them onto the wooden base. If you don't have a wooden sheet to use, thick cardboard will work, you just won't be able to wash your printing block if you want to change colour inks. We made a few different printing blocks, some with geometric patterns and others with organic patterns.

To apply the ink to the printing block, roll out the ink on your flat surface until you have an even coating over the roller. Roll the paint onto the printing block getting an even coating all over the block. Press the printing block onto the paper and apply pressure. remove the block to reveal your print.

To make our gift wrapping paper we used long sheets of brown paper and printed in bold colours. 

We also printed in black over the top of some old colourful paintings to make new beautiful artwork.

This post has been included in Twinkl's End of Term Activities Blog.

Happy art making friends!