THE TOOLS
MATERIALS:
- Cardstock or thick art paper
- Tracing paper or wax paper
- Scrap paper
- Printmaking ink (you can also use acrylic but you get a better image with the thickness of the printmaking ink
- Pallete knife (or a toothpick or chopstick)
- Pencil
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THEME: Palette Knife Printmaking // Monoprints
ART LINGO: Transfer, Monotype, Printmaking
APPROX TIME: 30min
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: ANY AGE
It’s a spooktacular time of year; seasons are changing and there is magic in the air!
October is such a fun month for me and my house; Hocus Pocus is watched, pumpkins are carved, and the house is turned into a spider filled manor. Halloween / Fall Fest / Whatever you call it, is such a great start to the holiday season……houses are decorated in spooky creative ways, costumes are being made (or bought) and make believe is upon us as we get ready for the end of the month treat filled night! What better way to celebrate then to make a fun spooky/goofy bird print with your favorite people!
I love the images from Rorschach ink tests; they are imaginative and just the right amount of eerie, all in all so much fun to look at and discover what you see! I wanted to take that same idea of a image reflected but apply it to two of my favorite things printmaking and silly birds!
You ready?? Go get your materials and Let’s scroll down!
STEPS
Step 1:
Grab your pencil and scrap paper (thin printer paper works well) and draw a bird facing forward, I like to use my simple shapes for this (circles, triangles, squares). Dont worry about all the details just yet just make sure the Bird is symmetrical (same on the left as the right) Sometimes I even draw a line down the middle of my bird to make sure it’s the same! (See picture 1)
Step 2:
Fold your bird in half lengthwise so just half the bird is showing (Fold down the middle of the beak to make sure it’s in the middle) Grab your tracing paper and fold that in half (See picture 2) Slide your sketch inside the folded paper so that just one side of your bird is showing (Picture 2). Trace your drawing on the tracing paper, you should now have just a half drawing of a bird. Remove the sketch paper, save it thou, we will be using it as our palette for our ink.
Step 3:
Squeeze a dollop of printmaking ink onto your scrap paper (it’s okay if your bird drawing get’s covered, we won’t save this)(See picture 3). Using your palette knife begin to fill in your bird using small sharp strokes or drags to mimic feather markings (See photo 4). Change feather directions slightly when you move from the face to the body or the wings so you can see the different parts of the bird! By doing small sharp drags with your palette knife you can creates some really fun feather shapes! Be mindful when you get to the face you want to be sure you leave the beak and eyes uncovered so you can add little details at the end (see photo 5).
Step 4:
Once half of your bird is filled, fold the tracing paper on itself with the ink’d painting on the inside, (doing so will give you a whole bird image in the end). Using your knuckles, rub in circles on the image to make sure the ink transfers (See Photo 6).
Step 5:
Open your Tracing paper, you should now have a completed bird, don’t worry if it doesn’t look fully transferred, I promise it will come out rad in the end! Place your bird print ink side down on your fresh piece of Cardstock, making sure to center it in the middle of the Cardstock and proceed to do another rubbing using your knuckles and circular motions (See photo 7). Carefully pull up the tracing paper and you should have a fun little spooky bird print (See Photo 8)! Use your palette knife to make little eye dots and beak nostrils and any other fun details you want to add in, you can also wait until it is dry and using a black felt tip pen or sharpie add in any details you want (I used a felted pen to add eye and leg details to my bird in the end.
FUN TIP: Dont discard the tracing paper just yet, grab another piece of cardstock and create a series of rubbings that get lighter and lighter as you use up the ink, this is called a ghost print (See the image below)!
That’s it for now, have a spooktacular week….BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
xx Mrs. K!
