Printmaking Workshop

Our next induction was printmaking.

This was the most practical and hands on workshop, as we were shown and then used each of the machines. First we were shown a basic method of printmaking, involving rolling ink onto a surface and placing a piece of paper over it, and then drawing with either pencils pens or fingers onto the sheet. The ink would then draw the final image onto the other side as the sheet was pressed onto the ink. For the example we each drew a portrait of someone else in the class in 5 minutes.

Next, we were shown one of the presses.

Everyone created a stencil from a sheet of paper, and placed it onto the metal sheet in the press, on top of a layer of red and yellow ink.

The sheet was then rolled through the machine with a sheet of paper on top, and the final result came out the other side. Now that there was less ink on these areas that had been printed, we rolled the sheet back through with a blank piece of paper, creating a "negative".