Monoprinting

Monoprinting is a quick way to make lots of pictures. Ideal if you want to make some quick greeting cards for anything! Every print you make is a one off and by experimenting you learn what pressures produce each effect.

It does require you to be fairly quick as you don't want the ink to dry out before you've done your drawing. This is especially true of water-based inks.

You will need:

* Printing ink (and white spirit if using oil-based ink, water based ink is cheaper)
* A glass, plastic or perspex completely smooth sheet
* A printing roller
* Plenty of paper
* Pencil, pens, rubbers etc 

Roll out a blob of ink (about as much as you'd put on a toothbrush) onto your smooth sheet until it is slightly tacky. As with all printing, if the ink is too thick it will spoil your print, if it's too thin it won't pick up enough to make a good impression (image).

Take a piece of paper and place it on the ink. Different types or paper will absorb the ink differently so experiment to find out what ones you like. Newsprint is quite thin and not a pure white but it picks up ink well, but sometimes you might not want it too.

Draw your design or picture on the paper. Add shade and texture by pressing you finger or using the rubber onto the drawing where you want some shading. Texture and shade can also be added using dots, cross-hatching and pressing other objects against the page.

When happy carefully peel the picture away from the ink and you have a print! Roll the ink out again for a new print.



TOP TIPS: 

1. Try out lots of different marks with your first few prints. It's common for the ink to be a bit thick when you start out, so use these ones to really go wild and experiment to find out what marks you can make, and which you like best.
2. Varying the amount of pressure you apply when using pens, pencils, rubbers and fingers will give you lighter or darker shades.
3. You can use a mask before applying your paper to the ink so your print has a nice clean edge.
4. Thoroughly clean and dry your roller and sheet once the ink starts to get dry and start afresh... trust me it's less frustrating that way!

VARIATION: You can also draw into the ink before laying the paper onto the ink, then you can use a dry roller on the paper to get the image. Or you can combine both techniques.

What to do with the the prints you don't like
Use them for collage material and create a new artwork out of them. You can cut and tear them up for interesting textures, make them more colourful using pencils, paints, pastels and tissue paper or bring out the design again with felts, markers or... a gold or silver pen. Remember though that if you have used water-based ink it will smudge and run if you apply liquids to them afterwards.