I took my first printmaking class last week. It made my brain hurt, but I also learned that if you just let things happen you can create some unique pieces! The lovely Suzi Garner taught the workshop at Sticky Art Lab, where I sometimes volunteer and teach craft demos. We suited up with aprons, had a quick tutorial and off we went to create and experiment. The concept of “printing the negative” was a hard idea to grasp. There were many a confused face, but by the end of it all we had an idea of how this printing business worked and were pleased with our final pieces.

Here’s my piece after three runs through the press. I punched out hearts from cardstock and the octopus was a template courtesy of Suzi. The frizzy blobs were made using torn pieces of textured paper. I started with a light yellow, followed by a coral hue, and finished off with a seafoamy color.

I personally loved mixing the colors. We used Akua soy based pain which felt greasy, but washed off our hands easily, and a brayer to mix and layer paint.

We even got to crank the press! None of us knew we were going to get an arm workout in at Craft Night.

Working with textures and prints was a challenge, but the results fantastic.

Smiley, happy printers!

photo by Rachel Knudson

It’s always fun to learn a new crafty skill!
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