Lesson video

Hello everyone, thank you for joining me again for lesson two of five printmaking lessons.

We're going to be making lots of prints together today, using a form of printing called monoprinting.

I'll tell you a bit more about that in the moment you.

Before we start, you may want to find an old t-shirt or an apron because we might get a little bit messy today.

You'll be using things that you can find easily around your house, or maybe your outdoor space.

Do ask permission before you go outside to find things, if that's your choice.

Are you ready to get started printmakers? Brilliant, let's get going.

In this lesson, we're going to think about what a monoprint is? We're going to think about how to make a simple monoprint ourselves using some found objects.

We'll learn and explore how to apply paint to those objects to make a print.

And we're going to create some repeated and some rotating patterns.

I'll tell you more about what those words mean later on.

For the lesson, you will need some paper, some glue, some scissors, mostly some squeezy, liquid paint, any liquidy paint we'll do, some leaves or small objects from around your home or outdoor space.

I used half an apple, some different shapes, some size leaves, a cotton reel and a key.

Then you'll need a paint brush to apply your paint.

If you don't have a paint brush but you have a sponge paint brush or even a roller, that we'll also do.

But a paint brush will probably work best for today's lesson.

In a minute, I'm going to ask you to pause the video, to go and find some small objects to make some prints with today.

The small objects are about the size of the palm of your hands, no bigger than that really.

It's best if you find objects that are quite flat or that can be pressed flat, so they're quite flexible.

That means that when we apply the paint to them, we'll be able to print with them more effectively.

Are you ready to go and find some objects now? Pause the video.

We have some star words for our lesson again today.

Say them with me, monoprint.

I'm going to tell you more about what monoprint means in just a moment.

Monoprint, pressure.

Pressure is how hard or soft the amount of pressure you apply when you're making a printer.

How hard or soft do you press down? Repeating pattern.

A repeating pattern is a pattern that occurs again and again.

It is repeated, a motif that's repeated.

Rotated pattern.

A rotated pattern is a pattern where the picture or the motif moves around each time it's rotated.

So what is a monoprint? What do you think? Well, have a look at the picture of the man making a print.

I think he's printing a big piece of fabric.

Many years ago, lots and lots of wallpaper and fabric was printed by hand Like this.

Is a long time ago.

Can you see that the man has one stamp in his hand and he's repeating that pattern of that stamp again and again, across the fabric as he goes.

He's matching the stamp up each time, so that all of the pattern fits together.

So a monoprint is a print that is done just once.

You may have heard mono before, monorail railway has just one rail down the middle.

So a monoprint is a print that's made just once but you can see that the man is making the same print over and over again.

The mono part of that means that no two times that he presses the print block down are going to be absolutely identical.

Every single one will be a tiny bit different to the one before and after it.

It's all due down to how much pressure the man puts onto the stamp and maybe how much ink he puts on as well.

Now he's going to be a professional at doing that, he will have done that for a long time, so it will appear identical to us.

But we can never, with a monoprint they'll never be exactly the same.

Have a look at the other two prints on the page.

The one in the middle, the little fish is one that I made with a stamp that I've already made at home.

We won't be making stamps like that today, but we will be making rotating patterns.

Can you see how the little fish faces in a different direction each time? That's a rotating pattern.

Can you say rotating pattern? Great.

The red and pink print on the end of the page is a leaf print that I've made, and that's very similar to the type of printing that we're going to do today.

These are monoprints, all of them on the page, but they're all quite different, aren't they? The leaf print was as a repeating pattern because I've put the same print down each time.

But you can see that I've changed the colour of the paint, that doesn't matter, it's still a repeating pattern.

Can you say, repeating pattern? Correct.

We're ready to make some prints.

Are you ready to be a printmaker today? Fantastic.

You're first step, I've got a picture here to help you, is to apply the paint to your object.

Now, the best thing to use is either a normal paint brush or a spongy paint brush like I have here in this picture.

The reason for using a brush is to apply the paint evenly, so it's the same across the whole surface.

Otherwise you'll have parts of your print that will be a bit patchy, and they won't come out so strong as others.

At the same time, you don't want to add too much paint, so you're going to need to explore this a little bit and find out what works best.

Then you'll be pressing the objects down onto your paper, that step two.

See which objects work the best.

Maybe you could turn the objects and use the different tens if they're different, or use the object on its side and see if you can create completely different type of print.

Some of the objects that I use, you could tell what they were completely because they looked just like the objects, the whole object was covered in the paint.

But some like the cotton reel in this picture, I only put paint onto the end of the cotton reel.

So you can't tell it's a cotton real at all, it just makes a circle print, which I found quite exciting.

I enjoyed asking my family to guess what the objects were.

I've got a top tip for you today while you're making your first lots of prints.

If your print doesn't come out very well, like the first apple in this picture here, then you don't worry, you can just apply more paint or make sure that the paint is evenly spread across the surface of the object with your brush.

You can also try pushing a little harder, adding a little bit more pressure to your object while you press it down onto the paper.

Carefully pull up the object to show your print each time.

Do this very carefully, otherwise it might slip and slide around and you won't get a nice, neat print.

Right printmakers, I think you're ready to have your first go.

Explore applying the paint evenly to your objects and pressing them down onto the paper first of all.

Pause the video, while you explore your printmaking.

Off you go.

That was a lot of fun, wasn't it? Did you enjoy that as much as I did? I really loved painting the objects and pressing them down.

I quite like getting a bit messy too.

Can you guess which objects I've used to make the print on the screen just now? That's right.

I've used a key and each time I printed the key, I turned it around, rotated it, just like this.

Now we're going to explore two different ways to make our prints.

We're still going to apply the paint to our objects but we're going to try seeing what works best, placing the objects down on the paper or laying the paper on top of the painted object and then peeling the paper off.

I'd like you to explore, which works best for you.

I've got a short video to show you my explorations with this.

Okay, I'm ready to make a print to try two different ways to make my print.

Firstly, by pressing my object down onto the paper and secondly, by peeling the paper away.

So I've chosen my object, I'm going to try my key again for this.

Now, I do want to tell you that this is an old key and I have checked that it doesn't belong to anybody or go in any doors in our house first.

Also the objects you choose, do need to really be washed off.

You're going to need to use them again, like a key.

Obviously, if they're a leaf or something like that, you can simply throw them away.

Okay, so the first thing I needed to do was to cover my object carefully and evenly with the paint.

So I'm going to hold it very carefully while I do that.

I've got my sleeves rolled up because it can be messy.

I've got my pieces of paper here ready, so I'm going to start by pressing my object down onto the paper and then carefully lifting it up to make a print.

Now the key doesn't hold the paint very well, so each time I make a print, I have to put more paint evenly onto the key.

I'm going to make whoops! Another print next to that one.

This is a rotated pattern, isn't it? Because I'm turning the key a little bit each time.

Okay, so there's my print made by pressing the key down onto the paper.

Next, for my next print, I'm going to try seeing if it's easier with something like the key to put the paint on and then lay the paper on top of it too and peel it off.

So I've covered the key in paint again.

I'm going to put it down on my base piece of paper, take a new piece, lay it on the top and press down where I can feel where the key is.

Let's see, you can see the paint coming through the paper, so we know where it is.

Let's see if that's a better print.

Yes, I think that's perhaps a better print.

It's a bit darker, isn't it? Than the other one.

The edges of the object are a little bit more clear.

I'll try that one again and to see if it's as good the second time around.

So, I apply paint evenly to my object, lie my object down.

Now because I can see where my paint came through the paper, I can sort of arrange my object in the right place and I can just about see the shadow of it through there although once you've laid your paper down, you can't really move it.

I suppose it's a better print, but it's a little bit tricky, isn't it? If we can't see where our object is, so that's kind of fun.

It's a little bit of happy accidents and potlucks sometimes we get.

You can see that the quality of the print, I'm very happy with, it's very nice and clear, isn't it? Okay, have a go at trying both ways to print and see what you find is easiest.

Pause the video to complete your task and have a go.

Try and see which works best for you, it might depend on the object as well.

Which of your objects worked best before? Have a think about that, in which you might need to change the way that you make your print by pressing the paper onto the top.

I think my key worked better when I pressed the paper onto the top.

Pause the video to go and explore some more.

So, which worked best for you? Tell me about an object or show me a print, hold it up to the camera to tell me about the one that worked best for each object.

Show me now.

Wow, those are fantastic, well done, you worked really hard with your printmaking.

As I said before, I did find that the key worked best when I laid the paper on top sometimes because it isn't completely flat, it's got lots of ridges and patterns on top of it on its surface.

Now step three is making different patterns with your prints, some repeated patterns and some rotated patterns.

Can you remember those words were our star word today? Try arranging your print each time to make a pattern either repeated or rotated like my key.

Have a look at the pictures here in front of you.

So I've got my little fish again and he's repeated that I pressed him down again and again in a line.

So it's a repeated pattern.

He's facing the same way every time I print him in the first picture, isn't he? Can you see? In the second picture, in the middle of the page, you can see that the fish is rotated.

So I've changed the direction that he's facing.

He faces a different way each time he is rotated.

And the key is rotated as well, just like I showed you before.

Each time I've turned it and then pressed it down again.

You may find that you need to put fresh paint onto your object each time you make a print with it, or you might get two or three prints out of one, lots of paint.

Have a go and see what you can find out.

Pause the video while you explore this part of the lesson.

Are you ready? Off you go.

Have a look at the pattern that I have on the page.

Can you tell me whether this pattern is rotated? Is it true or false? That's right, it's true, the pattern is rotated.

Each time I pressed the fish stamp down onto the paper, I turned it each time, so the pattern is facing in a different way.

The pattern is rotated.

Did you enjoy making repeated and rotated patterns? Which was your favourite? Yeah, I think I really loved to make the rotated patterns as well.

Your next task for this lesson, is to make a page in your sketchbook or on a new piece of paper.

What I'd like you to try next, is to cut out some of your prints, just like I'm doing in the first picture on the screen.

Arrange your prints into repeated or rotated patterns.

In the middle picture, you can see that I've made a rotated pattern because that was my favourite as well.

I used the different coloured prints and I re-arranged them each time to make different patterns until I was completely happy, then I used my glue to stick them down.

You have a go at that as well.

Did you enjoy your printmaking today? I had a fantastic time.

I particularly love the end of the lesson when I can put them all together and see all the different colours and shapes that I've printed.

I hope you're pleased with your work like I was.

If you'd like to, you can share your work with Oak National.

The details are on this screen now, but please ask your parent or carer to do this for you.

I hope you'll join me again for the next printmaking lesson, lesson three, where we'll be making our own stamps for printmaking.

I had a lot of fun today and you worked really hard, I loved seeing your prints that you made.

Well done everybody, you're becoming professional printmakers now.

Do join me for the next lesson.

Bye-bye.