Submitted by: Carroll Sherman, Montgomery High School, Montgomery, Texas
Title of Lesson: Personalized Rubber Stamps
Grade level: 6th grade though 12th grade
Goals / Objectives:
Students will be introduced to printmaking as an art form. (Historical)
Students will be introduced to printmaking as a skill to be learned. (Perception)
Students will design their own Personalized Rubber Stamp. (Creative expression)
Students will print their stamps with black block printing ink on colored construction paper.(Creative expression)
Students will create patterns with their stamps. (Perception)
Students will print ghost prints. (Perception)
Students will print "Rainbow Prints." (Critical evaluation)
Materials Needed:
Soft-Kut Printing Blocks
, cut to 2"X3" (5 x 7.6 cm), 1 per student. You can also Block Printing Kit that includes blocks, lino cutters, lino cutter handles and ink.
Brayers, I use only 3
Block Printing Inks, water soluble black, magenta, yellow, and blue.
Linoleum Cutters
with med. "V" cutters, 1 per student
Variety of stamps to observe and use. See these Sample Stamps
.
Inking Plates
, 1 per student, used as a bench stop for safe cutting
NO PRINTING PRESS NEEDED!!
Lesson Description:
My art department has collected a large bucket of a variety of stamps. I have my students grab a couple of stamps and some Colored Markers
Procedures:
After vocabulary is determined, students trace a 2"X3" (5 x 7.6 cm) Soft-Kut Printing Blocks
to fill in all the positive space. Students then choose one stamp to do. Using a small piece of tracing paper students carefully trace their chosen stamp in pencil, filling in all positive spaces with graphite.
This tracing is to be flipped over (with the pencil side down) and carefully placed on the top of a new Soft Kut. Students will gently transfer the mirror image of their design to the top of the Soft Kut by rubbing with their fingernail or a pencil. (I also use the handle end of a lino cutter or a wooden spoon- Ken) The graphite from the pencil tracing will transfer easily.
I will choose 3 or 4 students at a time to demonstrate the correct way to hold and use a lino cutter. I have them use the metal printing plates as table blocks to cut on. First I have them cut a ditch outside the pencil-traced positive space with the lino cuter. This outline helps preserve the integrity of the shape of the stamp. They then remove the negative spaces in their design with the lino cutter.
Student will engage in a discussion about the Principles of Design; pattern, rhythm, and contrast.
Every student will print with black water soluble block printing ink first. I set up only 3 inking stations at one table (I have classes of up to 31!). This helps things to stay under control. I demo the correct way to load a brayer, the correct way to ink a stamp, and the correct way to pull a print.
Students will choose construction paper to fill with prints.
Students will print in one corner of their paper and, WITHOUT inking again, flip their stamp OVER and print next to the first print (the Ghost Print). They will then ink their stamp and repeat the procedure in a CHECKERBOARD fashion until the paper is filled. (See examples. There is ALWAYS amazing patterns that result in this process! My students LOVE this part of printing!! MAJOR discussion about pattern, rhythm and contrast!)
We repeat the process with process ink colors of magenta, cyan (blue) and yellow to create a Rainbow Print.
NOTES: I use printmaking technique YouTube videos in class as a starting point for discussions. (Videos like this one and this one) I will piggyback another assignment on top of this to discourage down time in the classroom. (Free watercolor in sketchbooks?) If you are unfamiliar with printmaking as an art, watch some of the videos. I would also Google printmaking. There have been some amazing resources on the Internet over the last several years, but the links change -- so I am leaving the research up to you!!
How to load a brayer for Rainbow Prints
In the inking tray place a strip ½ the length of your brayer of one color ink (magenta), skip a small space, place a strip ½ the length of your brayer of another color (cyan).
Load your brayer by rolling and lifting (NOT rolling back and forth!!!) through the two colors. Your brayer should have one color on one end and another color on the other end.
By slightly moving your brayer to the left then to the right the two colors will overlap and create a third secondary color (in this case, violet). This third color needs to be VERY, VERY narrow for the best effect.
Students must focus on the edges of the overlapped color. This is where there is the greatest change in the colors (Rainbows!!).
Important: Students can choose a vertical Rainbow, a horizontal Rainbow, or a diagonal Rainbow for their stamp prints. We repeat the same ink/print/flip/ghost print procedure that we used before.
Warn students that care must be maintained to keep the inks in the right place on the brayers!! They must not lay their brayer in the inking trays haphazardly.
Assessment(s):
Review the student work and judge on these questions:
Was the student successful in creating a rubber stamp?
Did the student identify vocabulary?
Did the student create new patterns?
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Resources:
Book: Linoleum Block Printing
Book: Simple Printmaking: A Beginner's Guide to Making Relief Prints with Rubber Stamps, Linoleum Blocks, Wood Blocks, Found Objects
Book: The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques
