This week I thought I would share a step by step guide to creating your own textural mono-prints from both natural, as well as made resources…….still plenty of leaves around before they get too wet!

This year with everything going on around us beyond our immediate control, I find I am more and more concerned with enjoying a more sustainable and supportive festive season. Something I can definitely control. Honestly, if you asked me what Santa could possibly bring……(yes, I adore the festive season, always have and always will)…….well apart from my very own print studio at the bottom of a garden, complete with a wood-burning stove, I really don’t want for anything. I just hope for family & friends close (OK, not yet, though it will come back) and my winter socks and a few candles to see me through. Definitely a chance to re-evaluate what is really important, day to day & beyond.

So, with this in mind and my quest to support local makers, here is a step by step to making some deliciously textural mono-prints that could be used as your Christmas cards (people LOVE to receive them & nothing beats home-made, a bit like jam!), maybe wrapping paper, or a small print placed into a small frame. Whatever you do with them, the main thing is to throw yourself into the joys of making & getting your hands dirty, nothing beats it!

YOU WILL NEED: (As this is all about texture, you can experiment with whatever you have around!)

A good variety of leaves that you have collected from your garden, local park & around (press them in a magazine for a few days), evergreen leaves will be too springy for this!  Be experimental in your choices, though very delicate leaves can get stuck & break in the ink! Also, lots of textural surfaces, fruit nets/garlic nets are great, anything relatively flat, even some fabric scraps etc, printing ink (or oil paint), roller (or sponge/bristle brush), plastic mat for inking (or glass or plastic surface, from an old ikea frame would be fab), papers to print on, try to be resourceful with this, even old book pages, maps etc

PROCESS OF MONO-PRINTING

If you don’t have printing inks, oil paints work excellently, though not acrylic!

Once your surface textures are in place on top of the ink - place a piece of paper on top & get ready to use your body weight to make your print! Yes, stand on it or just use your hands to press!

This will create a negative impression, yet the ink has now covered your leaves & textures, so, time to peel those away from the plastic or glass mat……then take your next print.

So, now lay different textures over the ink layer and add leaves to it and roll some ink OVER those too! Place a fresh piece of paper over the top and stand on it again!

Now, you can think about ‘masking’ areas off as you print, by placing things that stop the ink on the print, between the ink and the paper!

Consider, cutting a rectangle from a cereal box or similar, which acts as a frame to get a neatly edged print with a mount!

The possibilities are endless, just have fun creating!!!

Feel very free to share your printing fun with me, you can use my contact page or direct mail.

Until next week…….