Sunday, September 18, 2016

In the Art Room: Printmaking Made Easy!

Hey, y'all! I'm in the middle of lesson planning for some upcoming fall-themed projects in the art room. Since my third graders are getting ready to embark on the above printed leaves project, I thought I'd share the lesson video with you as well as my fave printing projects. By the way, I often update my YouTube channel before sharing here. So if you wanna see some art teacherin' videos as soon as they launch, you might want to subscribe here
Every since I learned about marker prints from my art teacherin' buddy Don over at Shine Brite Zamorano, I have been in love. The technique is so simple and yet so impactful. I think my third graders will have so much fun creating their leaf collages. We are going to be tying in science by discussing just why leaves change colors. The background will be a lesson in glue resist and watercolor techniques. I'll be sure to share the complete lesson when we are finished. Until then, here are some of my very fave printing projects!
Last year, my first graders explored printmaking with these LOVE collages. They did both marker and ink prints and had a great time doing so. 
In this video, I share with you some more tips on marker prints as well as printing with ink. When I first started teaching, printmaking was a daunting teaching task for me. Over the years, I've come up with some things that work for me...maybe you'll find 'em helpful as well.
I love the powerful impact of these positive and negative leaf prints. The amount of prep time needed to make these printing surfaces is well work the results they produce. 
Last year, third grade got their toes wet with this printmaking project that explored cityscapes, depth and watercolor techniques. I created a couple of videos to walk the kids through the processes.
By the way, I create these videos for the following reasons: 1. my sanity; 2. so that all of my students can see my demos and 3. for anyone else who wants to use them! Seriously, feel free to play my videos in your art room. It's the reason I share them on my YouTube channel.

Last year, I was super smart and did printmaking with all grade levels at once. That meant all supplies were out and ready for the entire day. No switching visuals, supplies, etc. It really made printmaking a snap for me. Second grade worked on these sweet printed winter selfies
Fourth grade created these amazing Egyptian god portraits a couple of years ago. So much in one project: drawing, printing, metal tooling! 
A fun variation on traditional printing are floating chalk prints. If you've not tried this, I highly recommend it, so fun, easy and beautiful!
Why not print on fabric? My third graders not only enjoyed the printing process but also stitching their fabric pieces together. 
Making your mark with untraditional materials like cardboard is fun too. My third graders learned about the history of the Eiffel Tower while creating these beauties
And, of course, I've been sharing these fun radial prints that my fourth graders just wrapped up. 
Kids love printmaking because it's good, messy fun. I love teaching printmaking because it is a wonderful medium that allows the kids to see that art is not just a one-n-done. But it is all about trying over and again to create something awesome. 
I'm always looking for fun printmaking projects for my students as well as helpful tips and tricks. If you've got 'em, please share 'em in the comments below! 
 photo signature_zpsd10b3273.png

10 comments:

  1. LOVE love love the marker leaf prints- printmaking is one area I'm not comfortable teaching, but I think this is definitely do-able. Can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing and the video tutorial is super helpful as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cassie -- thanks sooooo much for these great tutorials! not only great to share with students but also good for demo-ing techniques that we're not solid with. It's one of my personal challenges to try printmaking with students this year.

    Quick question -- what kind of foam are you using? I will most likely have to purchase from my personal budget, so I'm trying to source the best option!
    thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the leaf prints too! We're doing them now in 3rd grade. Do have a tutorial for the background? Looks like liquid watercolors, and maybe salt or alcohol, but I'm unsure which. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Cassie - I love your work could you explain how you did the watercolor background of the leaves

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure! They just finished those this week...I actually did it a couple of ways. With two classes, I had enough water color paper. They did a wax resist with white oil pastels...I sprayed their paper with water and they applied liquid watercolor with droppers. With another class, they simply painted the colors onto their work and used salt sprinkles to add interest. I'll share soon!

      Delete
    2. Hi Cassie! I realize I am coming to this post rather late, but I absolutely love your site and can't wait to go through all of your videos. I was wondering if you ever made a post about the background on this?

      Delete
  5. Hello, I have browsed most of your posts. This post is probably where I got the most useful information for my research. Thanks for posting, maybe we can see more on this. Are you aware of any other websites on this subject.
    Παράθυρα

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you very much for this great post.
    booklet printing

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your comments. I appreciate each and every one :)

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.